Vongola Undicesimo
by Nehszriah
Summary: Kiyohiko thought he was safe from inheriting the family business. He couldn't have been more wrong. Nextgen, het, shenanigans galore.
1. Prelude

**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

**CLAIMER**: This is part of my alternate-future universe for the fandom.

**SPOILERS**: Ten-Years-Later was fixed…? Is that a spoiler?

**NOTES**: I've been working on this thing for quite a while and I would appreciate reviews and feedback if you would be so kind. I know it's not yaoi, but whatever. I am also cross-posting this on theotaku (dot) com, where I am going to be posting related art work.  


* * *

Vongola Undicesimo

It's been three years since I moved to Japan. It hasn't been that bad, for the most part. I've been able to grow up like a normal Japanese kid and not be hounded by the immense expectations that await me back home. You know it's pretty bad when you have to study in Japan of all places to escape tough standards. My dad's really important where he works, so everybody kind of compares me to him. It's not really fair, so I went about as far as I could from the critical faces that have been trying to size up my potential since childhood. The move definitely made middle school more bearable, that's for sure.

Well, I guess it ended up being more tolerable. I moved in with my uncle and cousin right before starting middle school. They're really big into sports and being extreme and I just end up being left behind with my uncle's girlfriend. She's nice, so I don't mind. Sometimes she talks about when her and my mom were younger, since they were best friends, and what it was like with my dad and uncle and all their crazy friends running around.

Speaking of crazy friends, I've got one too. She lives a few blocks over and comes over to hang out a lot. She's just as nuts as my cousin and I'm often pulled around town by the two of them. Being honest, I don't believe either of them bother to think before they act—ever. I mean, between my cousin wanting to fight some animals over at the zoo to our friend wanting to go on a dojo-buster spree (with real swords!), I've surely had my hands full for the last three years… or so I thought.

See, my family's business is one of those inherited things and I'm stuck in the position to where I'm eventually going to have to take control of it. I really don't want to inherit it and I've never wanted to from the moment I figured out my position in life. I figured that if I moved to Japan, I could grow up away from that at least and face it all after high school. It's not right for a kid to grow up in that sort of atmosphere if you ask me, so mom was pretty accepting when I told her I wanted to go live with her brother. Hell, my cousin had been trying to convince me to run away and live under his bed ever since I was five.

…and to think he actually was held back a year in elementary school due to a lack of "problem solving skills". If I were his first teacher for that year, I should have been glad he never resorted to his usual problem-solving method in school… his fists. The toaster shall never be the same.

So yeah. I've got an insane uncle, a troublesome cousin, a handful of a friend and a monkey hanging on my back that brings more issues than I care to admit. Wait a second… why do I have a literal monkey sitting on my shoulder? Oh, wait, yeah… I'm walking by Namimori Jr. High. Osamu must already be in there somewhere, terrorizing other students and sent Osaru out to scout. I don't know why he chose such an odd name for his pet; must have something to do with his dad owning Hibird. Those two scare me.

I'm a big chicken-shit, of course; I've always been and I doubt I'll ever be anything different. I'm not very good with sports either and I do average in school. My uncle's girlfriend says that my dad was a lot like I am when he was younger. Honestly, I can't think of my dad as anything other than the suave, important, savvy, dangerous man that he is today. I can't tell my might-as-well-be-aunt that I think she's lying to my face—if I've learned anything living in my uncle's house it is that she is more frightening when she is angry than most of the insane stunts my uncle, cousin and friend pull. I was glad once I graduated middle school, since I've been told my dad was introduced to the family business in middle school. I thought I was safe and that dad found someone else to take his place.

That is, until a little suit-clad baby appeared the second I walked into my room after graduation.

"Sawada Kiyohiko, I have come to train you in preparation for becoming a proper Mafia boss. Die now."

That was when the almost-perfect little world I had created for myself in Japan turned upside down.


	2. Intro Reborn and the Dying Will Bullet

**NOTES**: Here we are, another chapter! Decided to post this up so soon due to the brevity of the first one, so don't expect something in just two or three days. I am planning on posting drawings for this story up at theotaku (dot) com, for those interested. I am going to try to draw something for many of the chapters, as it would help to visualize things (I wouldn't mind help either -wink-). Just remember, if you want the fun to keep on coming, leave your thoughts in a review! It's the cool thing to do, whether it be anonymous or signed; I take 'em all.

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: Echan and klok755; you two rock out loud. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter One

_Intro Reborn and the Dying Will Bullet!_

It had been business as usual in Namimori Town that day. The third years in middle school were graduating, which caused there to be much excitement between the Yamamoto and Sasagawa households. Takeshi had to stop Haru from fussing over their daughter before the graduation ceremony and Hana almost did not make it back from the airport in time with Ryohei, as his flight in from Sri Lanka was delayed over two hours. They made it though, with only a few minutes to spare.

The ceremony was forgettable; the principal spoke in a monotonous drone and ended up saying nothing of importance. Some girl received the highest grades and a boy took home the perfect attendance award. The rest of the students wanted to break free of the droll formalities that they paced through so much so that there was a collective cheer amongst them once the principal informed them that it was over.

It took until everyone was outside for Ryohei to finally snap a photograph of the teens. His son had an arm wrapped around his nephew's shoulder, pulling the smaller boy into a potentially deadly grip. The Yamamoto girl tried to get in on the fun as well, yet only ended up leaning on the Sasagawa boy's other side with a grin plastered on her face.

"You know Ryohei," Hana said as she saw the image on the camera screen, "I think I have a picture like that at home."

"You do?"

"Yeah. Masaru would need a high school uniform and Kiyohiko and Haruhi would have to trade genders, but it's a picture of you with Kyoko and Yamamoto at their graduation."

"You have a picture like that Hana?" Haru asked. "That seems oddly nostalgic."

"I manage." The women shared a laugh before Ryohei shattered the moment.

"Where'd the kids go?" he asked. "I'll be extremely disappointed if I only got the one shot in."

"They probably ran off," Takeshi chuckled. "They are our kids after all."

"Yeah, but I think Kyoko and Tsuna would be upset if they only get one picture of their son on his graduation day," Haru explained. Takeshi thought for a moment and nodded.

"I guess you're right, but they'll understand. Those children are unstoppable."

* * *

"So, do you think they followed us?" Haruhi asked as Masaru poked his head out of the alleyway.

"Nope," the light-haired boy replied. "I think we're good. All that extreme training we did certainly helped out when Osamu-kun chased us in the park last weekend, didn't it Little Cousin?" The two glanced over at Kiyohiko, who was leaning against the wall as he tried to catch his breath.

"What is the matter with you two!" he panted. "Don't you think we should've stayed with Ryo-oji-san and Hana-san and Haruhi-san's parents?"

"Yohi-kun," Haruhi said through one of her million-watt smiles inherited from her father, "We have a week off to do whatever we want with no homework or consequences… don't you think we should make the best of it?"

"…but that was our graduation back there!"

"It's not like we won't graduate again in three years," Haruhi said. "Besides, there's a new sporting goods store in the shopping district I wanted to check out. It's supposed to have some of the equipment they use overseas in America!"

"Fine, then let's go," Kiyohiko sighed. All it meant to him was that there was going to be another store in the world where he did not really belong in.

"Hey, man, we are not going to go to the extreme shopping district dressed as middle school brats," Masaru said, pulling his cousin back by the elbow. He tilted his head towards the other end of the alley and chuckled. "We're gonna go get changed first so we look more like real high school kids. Haruhi already dropped some clothes off at our house, so we only gotta make one stop."

"Lovely," Kiyohiko sighed as he followed his cousin and friend down the alley. "…and here I was thinking I might get some rest this week."

It was not a long walk back to the Sasagawa-Kurokawa-Sawada residence. When they saw that Hana's car was parked outside the gate, they had to sneak in through the back in order to avoid being caught. Luckily for them, she and Ryohei were preoccupied with going through a large box of pictures to make much note of them being there. The kids crept up the stairs and opened the door to Kiyohiko's room, only to be met with a baby sporting a suit and a fedora sitting on his bed.

"Sawada Kiyohiko, I have come to train you in preparation for becoming a proper Mafia boss. Die now."

The three teenagers stood in the entrance of the room, frozen in disbelief. The baby frowned at the trio, who were displaying a myriad of emotions. Kiyohiko was frightened and Masaru was confused, while Haruhi killed the moment by laughing.

"What a cute kid!" she chuckled. Haruhi walked up to the baby and grinned broadly. "Are you Masaru-kun and Yohi-kun's new neighbor? I saw the moving van down the street before going to school, but I didn't think there were little kids moving in."

"You are wrong Yamamoto Haruhi. My name is Reborn and I am here to tutor Sawada Kiyohiko as he trains to become a mafia boss," the baby said. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at Haruhi's forehead. "Move aside if you value your life."

"I guess he wants to play," Haruhi grinned.

"I don't think that he wants to play Haruhi-san!" Kiyohiko panicked, pulling his friend away from the baby by her neckerchief. It felt strange for him to do so, as she normally wore the boys' uniform yet opted out that day since it was graduation (he normally pulled her back by her jacket collar).

"Come on Little Cousin! I don't think the kid means any harm," Masaru laughed. "If he got in with Hana-san in the house, I'm sure he's alright; she doesn't let in just anyone you know."

"Come on kid, just put the gun down," Kiyohiko said, trying his best not to panic.

"Sawada Kiyohiko, you are next in line to become the next Vongola boss," Reborn said.

"No, I don't! Why do you think I moved to Japan? I don't want that!"

"You are not strong yet; you are weak with despair and regret." Reborn cocked the gun and smirked. "Die."

Reborn pulled the trigger and shot Kiyohiko in the forehead. The teen was flung backwards due to the bullet's momentum and landed on the floor with a thud.

"Whoa, what'd you do that for?" Masaru shouted. Reborn put away his gun and stayed emotionless.

"It is his first step to becoming a good mafia boss," the infant replied. Haruhi and Masaru both jumped when they heard Ryohei charge up the stairs and slam the door open.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" he demanded upon seeing Kiyohiko bleeding out on the floor. Once the man looked up and saw Reborn, a seemed to click in his brain and he sighed in relief. "Oh, it's just you. I thought you were coming Tuesday."

"Check your notes," Reborn said, hopping down from the bed and poking the still teen with his foot. "This one seems to be taking a while."

"Hiiii! You killed him!" Haruhi screeched.

"Be patient Yamamoto," Reborn said. He turned to look at Kiyohiko and paused. Suddenly, the teen popped out of his clothes, the Dying Will Flame burning brightly upon his forehead. Masaru and Haruhi both did a double-take as he roared in determination.

"BECOME LIKE MY FATHER WITH MY DYING WILL!"

"Wha…?" Masaru and Haruhi gaped as the boy bolted from the room. Ryohei chuckled as his nephew nearly ran him over.

"Better go get him," the man snickered. "He's likely to get himself into some extreme trouble like that if you two don't stop him."

Masaru and Haruhi both looked at one another before it simultaneously came to them—Kiyohiko was their voice of reason. Lose him and things were sure to not end well.

"Yohi-kun! Snap out of it!" Haruhi yelled as the two rushed out into the hall. They almost ran over Hana as she came up the stairs clutching a photograph and Ryohei's digital camera.

"Watch it you two!" she scolded.

"Extremely sorry!" Masaru shouted out behind him. Muttering sourly, Hana walked up to Ryohei and showed him the photograph and the camera.

"See, I told you." Sure enough, the snapshot they had taken earlier of Masaru, Haruhi and Kiyohiko matched up to the one of the teenage Ryohei, Takeshi and Kyoko perfectly. Hana caught Reborn from the corner of her eye and shuddered. "What's the kid doing in here?"

"This is the home tutor I was telling you about on the way home," Ryohei laughed. "It seems like he came extremely early for his assignment to Kiyohiko. Only Reborn is this efficient when it comes to tutoring; Sawada-kun told me himself."

"You look familiar…" Hana said, scrutinizing the infant carefully. Reborn shrugged off the acid look and looked up at her.

"That is not the issue right now," he said. "We have to see whether that boy of Tsuna's did anything particularly useful."

* * *

"Hiii… did you see where he went Masaru-kun!" Haruhi asked, completely out of breath.

"Nope. All I know is that I'm extremely tired. I don't think I've ever seen Little Cousin run so fast before in my life," Masaru panted. A fire lit in his eyes as his fists clenched in excitement. "Maybe I can finally get him to join sports with me once we get into high school!"

"I wouldn't count on it," Haruhi sighed. She pointed over towards the elementary school's park, where Kiyohiko was attempting to hide within the playscape. A gaggle of small children were gathered around, pointing and laughing.

"Pervert! Pervert!" they chanted. Kiyohiko seemed to be on the verge of tears by the time Masaru and Haruhi were able to disperse the children and hand over a sweater to tie around his waist.

"Thanks for coming to get me guys," Kiyohiko sniffled. "I don't know what happened, but right after that crazy baby shot me I woke up in the shop across the street without my clothes."

"It's okay Little Cousin," Masaru said as they crossed the street to look inside the shop. "What you did was pretty extreme, not even putting out that fire on your forehead or anything!"

"…but look at what I did to the shop!" Kiyohiko cried, pointing beyond the glass window. Masaru and Haruhi peeked through and saw that there were people strewn about on the inside, as if they were beaten up by an incredible force.

"Woah, how extremely awesome is that?" Masaru grinned, the fire lighting in his eyes once more. "Did you do that Little Cousin?"

"Yeah, but… I didn't mean to! I dunno how I did it! Masaru-nii…!"

"I see what you have done young Vongola," Reborn said, appearing randomly on Kiyohiko's shoulder. The teens jumped at the tutor's appearance. "This place has been owned by and serves a local yakuza gang. You still need a clear focus on what it is like to become your father."

"Wha…?" Kiyohiko gasped, his face turning bright red. "I-I-I've never told anyone that…!"

"Well, you did shout something about wanting to become a man like Tsuna-oji when you popped out of your clothes," Masaru mused. "I think that's a pretty cool goal, since Tsuna-oji is such an extreme guy and all…"

"No! One of the last things on my mind is becoming like my dad!" Kiyohiko lied. "If I become like Dad, then I inherit the family business and I don't want that!"

"…but you have no choice Kiyohiko. You are the only candidate. I am going to be your new tutor from now on. We have much work to do," Reborn said. Kiyohiko groaned in reply.

"Hey, it won't be so bad Yohi-kun," Haruhi said, patting her friend on the back. "Tsuna-oji's a really neat guy and they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Just look at Masaru-kun!" The two glanced over at the boy in question, who just stared blankly back at them lost in his own thought processes.

"Hey, you little brat!" shouted a voice from inside the shop. Kiyohiko, Masaru and Haruhi all looked to find that the men Kiyohiko had previously knocked out were beginning to recuperate and they did not seem very happy about the ordeal.

"RUN!" Kiyohiko shouted before sprinting off down the street. Masaru and Haruhi took off right behind him, both with stupid grins upon their faces.

…and that was how Sawada Kiyohiko began his path down the road to becoming a Vongola.


	3. Don't Bring Them into This

**NOTES**: As you could probably tell by the previous chapter, I shall be using ethnic titles when people talk to one another. Although I write in the English language, I feel like this series is a situation where dialogue will benefit from variety in most ways possible. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: apillow, MATTGASM and expletive deleted. Remember everyone, review after reading for optimum writer output!

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Chapter Two

_Don't Bring Them into This!_

"Isn't it great jii-chan?" Haruhi grinned as she leaned onto the counter in Takesushi. She took off her sweatshirt and tied it around her waist before finally sitting down. "Yohi-kun's gonna train so that he turns out just like Tsuna-oji!"

"That's really splendid," Tsuyoshi grinned as he put out some plates of sushi on the counter for Haruhi and her friends. "It's a good aspiration to want to be like your old man Yohi." The shop was empty, as it usually was for a weekday morning before the initial lunch rush, allowing the three teens to talk to the old man without the threat of being overheard. The incident with Kiyohiko beating up the yakuza thugs the day before had ended in a successful evasion of the angered men and Haruhi and Masaru laughing it all off. Now they were visiting Yamamoto Tsuyoshi, who was viewed by all three as a grandfather figure despite only being Haruhi's blood family, and told him all about the adventures of the day before.

"I don't want to be like him though," Kiyohiko muttered, popping a roll of sushi in his mouth. "That thing Reborn shot me with makes people tell lies or something."

"It is called the Dying Will Bullet," Reborn said, smacking Kiyohiko on the back of the head. "You must be denser than your father. When shot with it in the head, it brings forth one's dying will and they are compelled to do the one thing they regret not doing before death."

"So then you regretted not becoming like Tsuna-oji?" Masaru asked with a mouth full of rice.

"No, I didn't!" Kiyohiko protested. "Becoming my dad is the exact opposite of what I want to do. I'd rather just quietly go into a company translating things into all those stupid languages I learned as a kid and work there. No mafia, no tutors and definitely no bullets to the head. For one, it would be a lot safer."

"…but Dad and Hana-san told us at dinner last night that you're a lot like Tsuna-oji was."

"Yeah, back in middle school. I thought that I was off the hook if I got through to high school without being dragged into this."

"You have not been taught much when it comes to the history of the Vongola, have you?" Reborn asked, helping himself to some of Kiyohiko's sushi. "The traditional age to start off a future boss with proper Vongola training is upon entering high school. Your father only received his rings early due to the urgency the Cradle Affair and its aftermath created. If it had been left to normal means, then he would have been thrust into everything just as you have been now."

"I still don't see why a Japanese has to take charge of an Italian mafia syndicate anyways," Kiyohiko grumbled, chewing on the tip of a chopstick. Reborn kicked him in the face.

"I have told you that the First Vongola boss retired to Japan and started the family that created you," he said. "The Primo was not a fool and knew that it would be a good idea to have another branch of the family off in a neutral reserve, away from the politics that surrounded the Italian Mafia world. It is due to this blood that you are able to rightfully claim your spot as a Vongola boss."

"I still think they'll hate me just as they hate my dad."

"…and that is why you are going to need to build a family to back you up," Reborn said. "I do believe Haruhi and Masaru here will do just fine as your first members."

"What! No!" Kiyohiko gasped. "Don't bring them into this! Haruhi-san has her baseball and Masaru-nii is busy just passing the grade levels! They don't have the time!"

"I do believe if their fathers could do it, then so could they." Reborn looked at Haruhi and smiled. "Would you like to be in the Mafia?"

"Sure! That's the codename stuff that dad always uses for his work so I would think he was cool when I was younger, so I'm willing to play along with your little game!" Kiyohiko and Masaru both ended up choking on their sushi in surprise.

"Haruhi-san, that's not a codename or a game. This kid is talking about the real mafia. You saw him shoot me yesterday."

"Yeah Haruhi. I'm towards the bottom of the class and I'm smart enough to know about the Mafia," Masaru added.

"…but this is a baby. Why would a little baby be talking about throwing you into the real Mafia, Yohi-kun?" Haruhi picked up Reborn and began to cuddle him. "Come on; kids don't know about that kind of stuff, right? I know I believed it for the longest time. Yesterday must have just been a really cool trick he pulled."

"Masaru-nii!" Kiyohiko cried as the two crouched into a Cousin Huddle. "Haruhi-san has thought this entire thing is just a game! What are we going to do?"

"This is going to be tricky Little Cousin," Masaru replied. "Haruhi's a woman and women need to be dealt with extremely carefully."

"Where'd you learn talk like that?"

"Luss-oji; he said it was one of the basics I have to learn about being a man."

"Yeah, well Lussuria-san doesn't take into account the fact that Haruhi-san isn't exactly like other girls," Kiyohiko said. The boys glanced over to see Haruhi still fawning over the miniature hitman in one of the most feminine displays of emotion they had observed in a long time.

"…most of the time," Masaru amended.

"Still, what are we going to do?" Kiyohiko looked completely frustrated with the entire situation.

"You boys worried about my idiot granddaughter?" Tsuyoshi asked with a chuckle. Kiyohiko and Masaru both stared at the old man as he continued to clean a spot on the counter.

"Sir, Haruhi's no idiot; she has the best grades out of all of us," Kiyohiko protested.

"Ah, but she's an idiot like her mother and father. There's nothing academic about it." Tsuyoshi leaned in towards them and dropped his voice. "Took her father a few years to get sharp enough to realize what was going on, but he still was as dangerous as they come, so I wouldn't worry about her."

"Are you sure jii-chan?" Masaru asked.

"Of course," Tsuyoshi grinned. "She was raised with this stuff. Just give her some time."

"Give who some time?" Haruhi asked, popping her head into the huddle.

"Nothing, Haruhi-chan," her grandfather said, straightening back to his full height.

"So then Kiyohiko, I assume you have talked Masaru into joining your Family?" Reborn asked, walking across the counter so that he was between the two cousins.

"Nuh-uh. I want to keep both of them out of this!" Kiyohiko demanded, gesturing towards Masaru and Haruhi. "Stop trying to get them in on this."

"I thought it was assumed I was going to join," Masaru interjected. His cousin gaped at him.

"Wha…?"

"Well you are getting ready to become a Vongola boss and Haruhi's gonna go with you, so I think it would be extremely irresponsible of me to just let this fly without coming along for support. My cousin and friend are not going to go into this thing without backup!"

"Yamamoto-jii… help me…!" Kiyohiko whined, slumping into the counter.

"Nothing I can do other than wish you luck," Tsuyoshi replied. "I'm sure you'll do fine, just like your old man."

"Stop comparing me to him!" Kiyohiko snapped. He stood up briskly and stormed out the front of the shop.

"Do you think we should go after him Masaru-kun?" Haruhi asked after an awkward silence.

"At least let's finish up Yama-jii's sushi first," Masaru shrugged. "Little Cousin's been extremely touchy about his dad lately. Let him cool off." He then grabbed the remainder of his cousin's sushi and helped himself.

* * *

Kiyohiko sat down on the park bench and watched as young children ran about during playtime in the distance. It was a brisk day for Spring, which he really did not mind. It was just… well…

How come everyone wants me to be like my dad? Kiyohiko thought to himself, taking out his cellular phone to idly play with it. He frowned and looked down at his sneakers. I'm here so that I become my own person, not so that I follow in Dad's footsteps. I don't want to be Mafia; I'm not cut out for it. The whole thing is just too dangerous for my tastes. In fact, I should just be lucky I'm still alive now that I think about it…

Suddenly, two large hands grabbed Kiyohiko's shoulders from behind. The teen looked behind him to see two burly men in suits staring down at him.

"Sawada Kiyohiko, we would like you to come with us," one of them said. Kiyohiko's eyes went wide and tried to jump up to make a run for it, but the next thing he saw was black.

* * *

"So I wonder where Yohi-kun ran off to," Haruhi mused as she walked down the street next to Masaru, hands resting behind her head. It had been a whole hour since Kiyohiko ran off by himself and neither of his pursuers were in a rush to find him. She glanced over at Masaru and frowned. She may have looked out-of-place in her usual boy's clothes, but the button-up shirt with boxing shorts looked ridiculous.

"I'm extremely confused right now," Masaru said, scratching his oddly light hair. "He didn't pick up his cell phone earlier and he always does, even if I'm calling him from the other room."

"What are you doing calling from the other room?"

"Hana-san says if I use my extreme voice any time after nine at night, she'll throttle me."

"It's just Hana-san though."

"Yeah, but Dad said he'd help."

"Ah." Haruhi took her cellular phone out of her pocket and dialed Kiyohiko's number for the third time since walking out of Takesushi. She was ready to apologize and vow to stay out of the Mafia game for good when she picked up the sound of a familiar ringtone.

"I hear Yohi-kun's phone!" she said excitedly. Haruhi and Masaru took off in the direction the music—a Vivaldi piece that both of them only recognized because it was Kiyohiko's ringtone—came from. They found the cellular phone lying in the grass at a children's park.

"Oh, no…" Masaru gasped. "He must have been really mad at us!"

"On the contrary, Masaru," said a voice. Reborn lowered himself from a nearby tree branch with a rope, coming to hover only a few feet away from the teens. "Kiyohiko has been taken by some of the yakuza men he injured yesterday. Now that they have had a day to recover, I believe they are more dangerous than they were before."

"This is extremely bad," Masaru panicked. "I can't let him get captured by yakuza! What kind of a cousin would I be then?"

"You're over-reacting Masaru-kun," Haruhi laughed. "Let's just go to that shop Yohi-kun went to yesterday and ask them where he is. I'm sure he has them in on this."

"That's right! The yakuza shop!" Masaru said before bolting off. Haruhi had to scramble to keep up the pace.

* * *

_It was raining and the hitmen from the opposing family had tried to use the rain to hide their tracks. It was stereotypical for sure, but it had been what happened. Bodies were slumped over in the mud, one set apart from the rest by casual attire stained by the blood of many. Kiyohiko stood there, ten again, staring at the body with a horrified look on his face._

_"Paul-nii-san…!"_

_There was a commotion going on behind him, which caused Kiyohiko to turn around. His father was there, fighting who was obviously the leader of the band of assassins. The Dying Will Flame was burning bright upon his forehead and engulfing his hands. A wave of helplessness rushed over Kiyohiko._

_The boy looked back at the body dressed in denim and a rock concert shirt. The young man's dark limbs were frozen into a pose that looked like he was getting ready to sit back up, rigor mortis prematurely set from the adrenaline gained in fight the attackers had put up. Kiyohiko went over to the body and touched the shoulder in hopes that the young man might straighten up again; his eyes were still open._

_"Paul-nii-san," Kiyohiko sniffed. "Please get up. My dad's here. Come on. Get up. Dad can fix it." There was a burst of pain in his side. "Come on… my dad will fix things. Wake up." In the back of his mind, the part of him that was looking at the event retrospectively knew it was no use._

_Dad was not going to fix this. He could not. The Mafia took lives; it did not save them._

Another blast of pain in his side and Kiyohiko cried out. He woke up, finding his arms bound and that what he thought was a stream of rain pouring down his face in his dream was a trickle of blood from a cut on his forehead. The floor was cold cement and his vision had been blurred by unconsciousness. Another swift kick connected with his stomach and he curled up in pain.

"How does it feel, boy?" someone snarled. Kiyohiko looked up to see a man who had been bandaged up looking down at him angrily. "How does it feel to be on the shitty side of things?"

"Who are you…?" the teen managed to say. The man scoffed.

"You mean you don't remember? You came into my shop yesterday and beat the crap out of everyone. It's not a good idea to make enemies with the yakuza, kid."

"I didn't know you were yakuza."

"Bullshit. Why would anyone go after us unless they have a death wish?" Kiyohiko felt himself being lifted up by the front of his shirt and he saw the man's angry face only centimeters from his own. "Now tell me you little brat, how in the hell'd you beat us all up like that?"

"I don't know. I didn't even want to be near you guys in the first place…" Kiyohiko answered. The yakuza threw him on the ground and kicked him again.

"Don't lie to me kid!"

"LITTLE COUSIN!" shouted Masaru's voice from far off. The yakuza stopped mid-kick and glanced behind him, where Kiyohiko presumed was a door.

"What the…?"

Suddenly, the door to the room burst open. Masaru and Haruhi piled into the room, the former bleeding at the knuckles and the latter clutching a severely dented baseball bat.

"Who are you kids?" the yakuza demanded. "How'd you get through my guards?"

"Don't you dare take my cousin like that," Masaru growled. The teen rushed forward and knocked out the yakuza in one blow.

"Nii-san! Haruhi-san!" Kiyohiko breathed as Haruhi untied him. It took a moment before all the emotion washed over him. "You came for me…! That was too dangerous! Don't you know you could have been hurt!"

"Hey, the fact we have you back is all we need Yohi-kun," Haruhi grinned. "Can you stand?"

"I think so…"

"Good, 'cause it seems like I'll have to carry back Masaru-kun here," the girl said, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder. Kiyohiko looked and saw that Masaru had passed out from exhaustion and was now sleeping on the cement floor. "Idiot only let me beat up about a quarter of the people trying to attack us in that obstacle course thing; he was so worried that he forgot to pace himself."

"Then I believe that the first two members have been found," Reborn declared, appearing on Haruhi's shoulder. "You should find yourself a lucky man to have such devoted individuals to be the first ones to join, Yohi."

"Who ever gave you permission to call me 'Yohi'?" Kiyohiko asked, his voice cracking in dismay.

"Come, we have much work to do if you are going to become real Mafia hitmen," Reborn told Haruhi as she shifted Masaru onto her back, completely ignoring Kiyohiko in the process. Kiyohiko followed them out into the hall and gulped at the mounds of unconscious yakuza lining the halls.

This was definitely the last thing he had wanted for his cousin and best friend to become involved with.


	4. That Disguise Does Not Suit You

**NOTES**: I needed a chapter concerning home life and fighting; this is what I came up with. -brick'd- Try to find the foreshadowing!

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: klok755 and MATTGASM… thanks for leaving a review! Remember to keep the reviews coming everyone! :D

* * *

Chapter Three

_That Disguise Does Not Suit You_

"Go away Reborn!" Kiyohiko groaned, covering his head with a pillow. "It's vacation between grades; I don't need to get up this early!"

"Nonsense Yohi. You need to train today to become a proper Mafia boss."

"I've trained every day since you came! Can't I get a little bit of rest on the last two days of freedom before high school starts?"

"The real Mafia never sleeps, even when women and children are involved. Now get up," Reborn stated. At this, Kiyohiko sat up straight in bed and glared at the baby.

"You don't think I know that?" he hissed. "Now go away."

"Now that is more like the resolve you are capable of," Reborn said. Kiyohiko flopped back down in bed out of frustration and tried to ignore the child.

_Just go to sleep, Yohi. It's Saturday and the sun isn't out yet…_

"Now when I trained your father, it took him a while to naturally find that sort of resolve," Reborn continued. Kiyohiko sat back up again and did his best to stare the baby down.

"Don't start telling lies now," he growled. "Stop comparing me with my dad; you weren't even born then." The teen flopped back down adamantly and jerked the covers over his head.

Not too long afterwards, a miniature bomb found its way under Kiyohiko's bed.

* * *

"He's trying to kill me Hana-san!" Kiyohiko protested through a bowl of breakfast cereal. His uncle's girlfriend raised an eyebrow from across the kitchen table.

"Kill you?" she questioned.

"Yeah! He says he's training me, but all the kid's doing is trying to blast me to the next world! He planted a bomb under my bed this morning!"

"Hm. I thought that had just been Ryohei and Masaru slamming into something again."

Breakfast under the Sasagawa-Kurokawa-Sawada roof seemed to always start out in such a fashion. Hana, armed with a newspaper and peanut butter-slathered toast, would start working on a pot of coffee sometime around five-thirty. Kiyohiko would join her before six struck and they would discuss the happenings of the household from their perspectives. They were often able to figure out when Ryohei and Masaru were plotting something and did most of their own planning this way. At seven, the sweaty, smelly Sasagawa men would burst in through the door after being out running and whatnot since Hana sat down with her coffee and antics would commence. It was like clockwork.

Since Reborn came to live there, however, the mornings had become the one part of the day Kiyohiko always longed for due to the more-intellectual normalcy of it all.

"Can't you do something about this, Hana-san?" Kiyohiko pleaded. "I'm not living in Japan to become a Mafia boss! There's got to be something…!"

"Kyoko-chan and Sawada wouldn't do anything that had the chance of killing their only son," Hana said, turning back to her paper. "If they sent Reborn-kun here, then the reason must be very good."

"You still get a rash after touching children, don't you?" Kiyohiko deadpanned, unimpressed with the woman's answer.

"Damn thing made me break out in hives two days ago; your cousin should be happy he was old enough for me to just slightly itch when Ryohei and I got together."

"If you're allergic, then we can get rid of him!"

"I am not kicking Reborn-kun out of this house."

"…but!"

"No; I am not kicking that… thing… out because he is the tutor your parents sent over as an education supplement. I would be a horrible guardian if I retarded your educational opportunities because of a few cases of hives."

"…Hana-sa-a-a-an…!"

"I bought allergy medicine last night; I think I can deal."

"You might be able to deal, but I might end up dying," Kiyohiko muttered, slumping down to rest his chin on the tabletop. "Can't we be a normal family?"

"No matter how you slice it, us talking like this is probably the most normal part about this house," Hana said, taking another sip of coffee.

"HEY! I'M HOME!" shouted Masaru as he burst in through the front door of the house, out of the line of Hana and Kiyohiko's vision. "DAD LEFT ALREADY FOR HIBARI-JIJI'S 'CAUSE TSUNA-OJI LEFT HIM A MESSAGE THERE!"

"Do you have to shout?" Kiyohiko asked once Masaru plodded into the kitchen. "We're right here, you know."

"Just wanted to make sure you heard me before I forgot," Masaru grinned, reaching for an apple on the counter. "You know I have the extreme tendency to forget things."

"Which is why you need to start using that notepad I bought you," Hana interjected.

"Hana-san…" Masaru whined.

"Do not make me put down this newspaper or you are going to wish Hibari was coming back here instead of your dad."

Masaru quieted, knowing how serious the threats were that came from his father's girlfriend. He took another bite of apple and glanced over at his cousin. "Hey, what do you want to do today, since it's Saturday?"

"I was hoping for some peace and quiet," Kiyohiko sighed.

"Well, I ran into Haruhi on my way back and she said that Yama-jii gave her an old bokken her dad used to use when he was younger. I was thinking that we could go to the shrine and have an extreme training session in all the space they have up there!"

"Take your father's special MMA gloves then," Hana said, not even looking up from the paper, "the set with the ceramic in the palms; you'll need it if you're going to spar with that girl if it is the bokken I am thinking of."

"Alright!" Masaru cheered. He took a final bite of his apple and rushed up the stairs, tossing the core away in the process. Kiyohiko groaned and allowed his forehead to connect with the table once again.

Was one normal Saturday too much to ask?

* * *

"So here's the shrine; I wonder where Haruhi is," Masaru said, glancing around the perimeter. It was quiet and peaceful underneath the shady trees. The teen was already wearing the MMA gloves, itching for a fight.

Kiyohiko, on the other hand, was lugging a knapsack filled with first aid supplies. The last time Haruhi and Masaru had a proper duel, both were nearly hospital-bound. The younger boy sat down on the grass and sighed in irritation.

"I can't believe that even though you say you won't fight girls, you keep on having bouts with Haruhi-san like it's nothing," Kiyohiko said.

"That's 'cause Haruhi's extremely different."

"How's Haruhi-san different?"

"Well, she doesn't act like a girl and she doesn't dress like one or sound like one and besides… she starts half the fights anyways. Do you really want me to be helpless to the extreme against that?"

"I don't know… it might knock some sense into you," Kiyohiko frowned. He reached into the knapsack for a bottle of water that he had brought, but jumped back when he felt something moving inside.

"What the…!" he gasped. Kiyohiko jumped to his feet and hid behind Masaru, who immediately crouched into a martial arts stance. Reborn crawled out of the knapsack, dressed in a puppy outfit.

"Woof. Woof," the infant hitman said. Masaru relaxed and turned towards his cousin.

"Why'd you let a dog inside your bag?" he asked.

"IT'S NOT A DOG!" Kiyohiko protested. He then turned to Reborn. "Can't you leave me be for even an hour!"

"I am required to be there for your training as a Mafia boss until you are ready as I see fit," Reborn stated, hopping up onto Kiyohiko's shoulder. "You should know better than to try to run away from me, Yohi. Woof. Woof."

"Yeah, Little Cousin, you should know better than to disobey the talking dog," Masaru scolded lightly. Kiyohiko's jaw dropped, the boy not knowing whether or not to take the comment seriously.

"Yo! Sorry I'm late!" called Haruhi. Kiyohiko and Masaru glanced over towards the stairs leading to the shrine and saw Haruhi running up the stairs with a wooden bokken and a knapsack of her own. She had on a short skirt and nice blouse, which startled her friends for a moment.

"Did your mom attack you or something?" Masaru asked as she trotted up to them. He could barely keep his eyes off Haruhi, who rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Yeah. I need a minute to get changed in the shrine, if you don't mind," she replied. "Mom was in one of her moods again, talking to me about how I have to look more like a girl and not like a boy and all that jazz. I don't think she gets how annoying girl clothes are."

"I think you look nice," Kiyohiko piped up, trying to be polite. Haruhi scoffed.

"Thanks man, but you don't spar in a skirt. It's kind of a stupid move," she said before walking off towards the shrine. After making sure no one was in there, she closed the door.

"Wanna go peek?" Masaru asked Kiyohiko with a stupid grin upon his face.

"No…!" Kiyohiko gasped. "I am not peeking at Haruhi-san!"

"Come on… I know you like her too," Masaru teased. "You saw those legs. She may be one of the guys and our best friend and all, but you have to admit that was sexy as hell."

"…and you're going to get your balls handed to you if you aren't careful," Kiyohiko said. "What would Hana-san say if she knew you peeked at Haruhi-san?"

"Oh… good point…" Masaru mused.

"I would prepare yourself for quite a fight if I were you, Masaru," Reborn warned. "That sword that Haruhi was carrying with her was no ordinary wooden sword."

"What do you mean?" Masaru asked. Reborn was about to respond when Haruhi slammed open the door to the shrine, bokken in hand. Dressed in jeans and layered t-shirts, she looked much more in her element than before.

"Alright you moron, come on over here," she smiled eerily. Kiyohiko took a healthy step away from his cousin as the angry girl advanced on Masaru.

"What…?" Masaru asked, looking nervously at the bokken. "Why're you so mad, Haruhi-chan?"

"I could hear you, dumbass," Haruhi said, not even bothering to wipe the grin from her face. Anyone else who was looking on would have thought the girl was pleased. "Be glad Yohi-kun was here to keep you in check, or you'd be unconscious right now."

"Try me," Masaru grinned. Kiyohiko blanched, as he knew what was coming. The bokken flew towards Masaru's face, only stopped by the boy's hands. All three teens gaped when they saw that the bokken Haruhi was using had turned into an actual metal sword there in her hands. Masaru's hands were only saved by the ceramic plates in his gloves.

"Holy crap!" Kiyohiko gasped, so startled that he fell to the ground. "Haruhi-san, what kind of bokken did your dad used to keep anyways?"

"Totally awesome ones!" the girl replied, marveling at the weapon in excitement. "Dude…! How cool is this!"

"Extremely cool!" Masaru agreed. He and Haruhi jumped back from one another and prepared to begin their fight for real.

"Reborn! I don't want them to fight!" Kiyohiko said, angrily glaring at the well-dressed infant. "It's bad enough they're always competing in gym class, but I don't want them to start fighting with a real sword or anything like that!"

"You do not understand, Yohi," Reborn stated, sitting down next to Kiyohiko as the fight continued. "Haruhi and Masaru are part of your Family now; they need to test themselves in order to remain by your side. Fighting friends who know your moves and tendencies is probably one of the best training methods one can employ. If someone knows how predictable you are, then it shall force both parties to change their fighting styles in order to win."

"…but does it have to mean fighting up here where Hibari-san or Osamu-san could catch us?"

"I believe that you need to live life a little bit on the edge, Future Boss of the Vongola," Reborn said, suddenly sipping a cup of tea. "If you do not learn to relax, you shall be driven to insanity."

"Great… that's just what I needed," the teen sighed. He leaned back on the palms of his hands and watched Haruhi and Masaru fight it out. "Can I ask you something, Reborn?"

"What is it Yohi?"

"You made me do some pretty crazy things this week, right?"

"I made you do useful things."

"Something tells me that normal people aren't thrown off buildings, made to run the entire perimeter of their hometown five times in a row or even abandoned in the woods for two days."

"Who ever said you were normal?" Reborn quietly sipped his tea and appeared to be reflecting. "You are the heir to the most powerful Mafia family in the entire world; nothing about you has been normal since the day you were born."

"You see, that's the thing… I just want to be normal," Kiyohiko explained. "Dad knows I came here to be normal. Plenty of Mafia children grow up to not become involved in their parents' line of work and I'm fully aware of it. I know that Gokudera-san is making so sure that his son doesn't even know that he is involved in the Mafia that I'm sure not even my dad has met him… and Gokudera-san keeps nothing from my dad. Why can't I be like Gokudera-san's son and just stay out of everything?"

"It is because of your blood," Reborn answered.

"Blood?"

"It is your birthright to ascend to power in the Vongola and ascend to power you shall. I believe that it is just a good thing that you proved your resolve to me earlier this morning, or you would have surely been shot with the Dying Will Bullet already today and would be fighting with Haruhi and Masaru."

"Splendid." Kiyohiko looked back at the fight, which seemed to be slowing down with fatigue, and pondered a bit more. "Dad's told me a bunch of stories about when he was first introduced to the Vongola and they frighten me. Will I have to go through that stuff too?"

"Yes and no," the infant said. "You deal with what heads your way how it comes and nothing more, nothing less."

"You're too vague, you know that?"

"It is my job as your home tutor to make you think."

"I should have known," Kiyohiko groaned. He watched as Haruhi and Masaru both collapsed into the dust, worn out by their spins and flips accomplished during their sparring session. "I really should have known ever since I got on the plane to Japan."

* * *

**A/N**: I do realize I could have written a chapter or two of material between this chapter and the one before it; I'm saving that material for a special occasion.


	5. The Eerily Quiet Chapter

**NOTES**: I've smoothed over the lack of Reborn and as to why he's not been around. Just a little while longer and our favorite suit-clad infant is going to be back in proper action.

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: klok755 and Echan1263. Remember to leave reviews in order to show your support! As a side-note, I am posting update reminders as well as taking open questions/comments/critiques over in Echan's KHR forum "_Just another forum_" under the "_On the topic of future fictions…_" thread. Come on over! I don't bite… often. XD

* * *

Chapter Four

_The Eerily Quiet Chapter_

Haruhi was in a very good mood as she woke up Monday morning. She happily got up and dressed herself in the girls' uniform for Namimori Senior High—the boys' uniform she had ordered would not be in for another two whole days—and ran down the stairs for breakfast. Haru was in the kitchen already, putting together the traditional first-day-of-the-school-year breakfast for her daughter.

"Look who's all smiles this morning," she said as Haruhi walked in and began devouring her food. "Hahi… the way you eat, let alone dress and talk and act, I'd think you were a boy."

"I think the guys are rubbing off on me Mom," Haruhi grinned, grains of rice stuck to her face. "I mean, we only do everything together."

"Not that I don't approve of you hanging out with Masaru-kun and Kiyohiko-kun, but why don't you ever hang out with any of the girls from school?"

"Are you kidding Mom? Those two are much more interesting than any of the girls I've gone to school with. I think the amount of fun has doubled since Reborn-kun showed up!"

"Reborn-kun?" Haru asked, the name flipping a switch in her brain. She did her best to not show emotion at the mention of the hitman tutor. "Who's that?"

"Didn't I tell you before? He's a little kid that moved in close to Yohi-kun and Masaru-kun's house, so he comes over all the time to play Mafia… like Dad would for me when I was little."

"Hahi? You never told me this."

"I thought I did. Anyways, Yohi-kun's the Boss and Masaru-kun and I are his Family members! It's pretty fun. Gotta go meet the guys now; thanks for breakfast!" Haruhi grabbed her bag and kissed her mom on the cheek before rushing out the door.

"Reborn-kun, huh?" Haru asked herself. "I guess Takeshi has his successor then."

* * *

"There you are!" Masaru yelled at Haruhi jogged up to the gate in front of his house. "I've been extremely bored waiting for you to get here!"

"Where's Yohi-kun?" Haruhi asked, snapping her fingers so that Masaru looked at her face and not her legs. "He isn't doing some last-minute scrambling, is he?"

Masaru did not answer verbally, but instead pointed over towards the house as a resounding crash echoed out into the yard. Kiyohiko came rushing out of the house, hopping on one foot as he tried to shove the other on without untying the laces. A piece of toast with jam was shoved into his mouth and he looked to be highly flustered.

"Yo, Yohi-kun!" Haruhi grinned as her friend joined them in the alley. Kiyohiko frowned as he finally reached the gate and took a bite of the toast.

"I hate that thing," he muttered, now walking along towards school.

"What thing?" Haruhi asked.

"That Reborn kid; I overslept because he ended up turning off my alarm clock!"

"I'm sure he has an extremely good reason for it," Masaru argued. "I mean, he does seem to have a method to his madness."

"Sure… you aren't the one who has been woken up every day for the past week by a bomb exploding by your ear," Kiyohiko groaned. He took another bite of the toast and scowled. "Let's just get to school."

The secondary schools in Namimori Town were mainly linked together as far as student population and admissions. A couple blocks away from the junior high, Namimori Senior High was the destination for nearly all of the students of the junior high. In fact, an old saying around the neighborhood was that those who passed the Namimori Junior High exams were set until college.

It felt comforting to Kiyohiko that he saw many familiar faces wandering around within the school boundaries. He had spent at least parts of the previous three years with them and was pleased they were going to be around for the next three. Kiyohiko enjoyed having a comfort zone—something that seemed to have been ignored for the past week—and he was glad to at least have this. Kiyohiko followed Masaru and Haruhi up to their classroom, 1-C, and almost jumped when he heard a voice call out once they entered.

"Hey there guys," a girl's voice said casually as the trio entered the room. The owner of the voice—Takizawa Saki—was an old classmate who had been in the same school as Haruhi since elementary and was one of the many used to the antics of the three teens. She had been reading a book when they entered, which was not unusual for the dark-haired girl.

"Yo, Saki-chan," Haruhi grinned. "What's up?"

"Same old, Yama-chan."

"Any new meat this year?"

"Only one so far," Saki said, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder so she would not have to look away from the book. "I think he's half-Japanese or something, since he has this thing with his R's and stuff when he talks and is drop dead gorgeous."

Haruhi looked back at the last seat in the row and smiled. She instantly recognized the black hair that looked almost purple in the light and the almost-permanent look of nervousness he wore upon his face. He was in the very back corner, reading a volume of manga to himself, trying his best to look inconspicuous. It had been years since they had last seen one another, but that did not matter to Haruhi as she ran right to the back of the room and put the boy into a headlock.

"Damiano-kun!" she laughed, making the boy jump at the sudden contact. "Since when have you been going to Namimori?"

"Uh, Signorina Haruhi, please let go," Damiano said, blushing furiously. "You're squishing me rather close to your chest." Haruhi released the boy with a smirk.

"Yeah, she's got boobs and legs now. Extremely strange, ain't it?" Masaru laughed as he and Kiyohiko made their way to the back. He took the seat kitty-corner from Damiano, while Haruhi sat down in the seat behind him and Kiyohiko took the chair in front of the newcomer. Haruhi smacked the back of Masaru's head for good measure.

"How long has it been, Damiano-san?" Kiyohiko asked.

"At least three or four years," Damiano replied. "Mom had sent me over here since she heard from Signore Tsunayoshi that you were about to start your Vongola training. She said it would be a good idea for me to hang around, thought I'm not quite sure as to why."

"Oh, what's Chrome-san been up to lately?" Kiyohiko enjoyed hearing about the female half of his father's Mist Guardian, since she had always been such a nice lady towards him. Damiano's twin sister Foschia, on the other hand, was an entirely different story.

"Oh, nothing out of the ordinary. She goes on missions every now and then, so I get left with Signore Chikusa and Signore Ken. Sorella is always busy with the Varia now, which has proven to be excellent for my health."

"Now I remember… Foschia was always beating the two of you up, wasn't she?" Masaru asked, motioning towards his cousin and Damiano. "Haruhi and I had to save your non-extreme butts more than once, you know."

"How could I forget?" Kiyohiko sighed, wishing the topic of Foschia had not been brought up. While Damiano was just as caring, kind and pleasant as his mother, Foschia Dokuro was a hellion of the worst kind. Mukuro (whom Kiyohiko was decidedly afraid of) had taken her under his wing at an early age, cultivating her sheer strength and determination into one of the sadistic fighting machines to ever walk the face of the Earth… at least in the young Vongola's opinion. She had joined the Varia at the age of thirteen, which was unheard of for most members. Both of the twins may have inherited their mother's looks, but it was Foschia that became the warrior prodigy.

"You three know this guy?" Saki asked as she came towards the back of the room. The four looked up at the girl, who seemed quite amused.

"He's an old friend; our parents work together," Haruhi said. Damiano stood up and shook Saki's hand with a slight bow. The boy towered over her, just barely at six feet compared to her five.

"Good morning," he said. "I am Damiano Dokuro, or I guess it would be Dokuro Damiano now, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance Signorina…?"

"Takizawa Saki, but just call me Saki," the girl blushed. She let go of Damiano's hand and asked nervously, "So you're a foreigner?"

"Yes, from Italy," Damiano said. "My mother is Japanese, but we've lived in many different places since I was little. Italy was the one place we kept on coming back to though. We have even lived in Japan a couple of times before."

"Really…?" Saki asked, blushing even more. Haruhi had to contain her laughter over the scene. "So what made you come to Japan?"

"I wanted to learn more about my mother's culture, since my sister doesn't seem very interested," Damiano lied. "Both of them are still back in Italy, so I am glad that I have friends here to help me out."

"That's good…" Saki said, at this point just staring at the now uncomfortable Damiano. It took a few moments before Kiyohiko tugged gently on her sleeve in order to get her attention.

"It's almost time for class, so I think you'd better sit down. Don't want to make a bad impression," he said.

"Oh! You're right Sawada-kun! Thanks!" Saki went back to her seat, which allowed Damiano to slump back into his.

"Great…" he groaned. "So much for not drawing attention to myself."

"Saki has a weakness for the tall ones," Haruhi explained with a laugh. "I bet you're the tallest guy in the class; you're not going to stay inconspicuous for long, Gaijin-kun."

"It's not fair," Damiano groaned as he allowed his forehead to slam onto the desk. "I'm gonna stick out like a sore thumb and get bullied again."

"Not while you're with us, Damiano!" Masaru said enthusiastically. "You're best bet is to join an extreme after-school club like me and prove that you're not a man to be messed with! I'm going to go out for the boxing club after school lets out!"

"The baseball team is already expecting me at the diamond after school!" Haruhi said with a smile. Damiano's face twitched slightly and he turned to Kiyohiko, who sighed.

"You can come home with me; the bullies know that if they mess me up, Haruhi-san and Masaru-nii will hunt them down and tie them to the top of a high-rise flagpole by their pants," he replied. The teacher walked in and called the class to attention, leaving Damiano to whisper his reply.

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

It was after school had let out and Kiyohiko was already on his way home with Damiano. It had been close to mortifying how many people were paying attention to the group now that Damiano was with them. They had to skirt by a few of the senior gangs and hope for the best once Haruhi and Masaru were no longer around to protect them.

"Thanks for walking home with me Don Sawada," Damiano said. "I'm afraid I'm still not very good with the people around here."

"Not a problem. Just call me Yohi; we are friends, right?"

"Alright, Don Yohi." Damiano paused for a moment and frowned. "How has it been for you here in Japan anyways? Has the country treated you well?"

"Well enough, I suppose," Kiyohiko laughed. "I still didn't get out of having a Vongola tutor come after me though. I was kind of hoping that if I was over here, then Dad would find a new successor."

"It's always been known that you are going to be the one that will become Vongola Undicesimo," Damiano said. "The Varia doesn't like it one bit. Sorella says that Signore Fausto has a fit about it almost weekly at the worst, since it was his father that was adopted by Vongola Nono. It is a good thing that Signore Xanxus keeps his son in check, or else things could be a lot worse."

"Don't remind me," Kiyohiko sighed. He knew it wasn't Xanxus, the top Varia official, who kept the up-and-coming Fausto in check—that just was not his style whatsoever. Tsuna was the one who made sure that the twenty-one-year-old and his band of frightening hooligans away from Japan and not at Kiyohiko's throat.

They stayed silent for a while afterwards while they walked along the streets of Namimori Town. The two were just content with the other's company, knowing that they both were going to have plenty of time to talk once the school year pressed on and Masaru and Haruhi came up with crazy things for the four of them to do together. Kiyohiko, however, thought of something once they were stopped at a crosswalk.

"Damiano?"

"Yeah, Don Yohi?"

"Why did you come to Japan anyways? I'm serious."

"Mom told me to come," Damiano said as they were given the green light to cross the street. "It was either here or living with Signore Ken and Signore Chikusa once they moved to England; the decision wasn't very difficult."

"What's wrong with Ken-san and Chikusa-san?" Kiyohiko asked. "I thought they were really kind of nice. Well, Chrome-san has left you and Foschia-san with them ever since you were little so they couldn't have been that bad…" Damiano groaned and slumped his shoulders.

"Were do I start? Signore Ken is just a filthy womanizer who has been getting worse as the years wear on. He's rude and disgusting and fights with his Woman of the Week over at the house. Signore Chikusa is just plan creepy and I think he spies on everyone. The sooner I could get away from them the better."

"Then I guess Japan was the best option out of the two," Kiyohiko replied, quite sorry he had asked.

"Well, Signorina Haruhi is here too… which is a plus," Damiano added.

"Sorry to break it to you, but Haruhi only wears the girls' uniform on special days like the first day of school or graduation and things like that," Kiyohiko laughed. "I don't know how she did it, but she was able to convince the principal that he could wear the boys' uniform all the other times and participate on the boys' baseball team. Don't turn into Masaru-nii on me now."

"Wow, she's on the boys' team?" Damiano chuckled. "She is cooler than I remembered!"

"It's Haruhi-san…"

"…who was the one who kept on sticking up for me when Sorella or Signore Fausto would come looking for someone to beat up! I've thought that she was the coolest ever since we were kids!"

"Haruhi-san is nuts," Kiyohiko stated. The blissful, distant expression on Damiano's face did not let it seem like he was listing at all.

_Shit._

* * *

**A/N**: Now that I've tortured you with a Reborn-less chapter, I promise the next one shall be tons and tons of him. :D You have my word.


	6. Interlude I

**NOTES**: Here's the chapter I promised you… PURE REBORN! -shot- XD I'll be posting the chapter after this pretty soon, since this is so short.

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: Amandy-san (twice!), MATTGASM, Echan1263, klok755

* * *

Interlude I

Ciaossu.

So I can assume most of you have been wondering where I have been. I was always front and center from the moment I had entered the life of Sawada Tsunayoshi, but now that I am here with his son Yohi I seem almost out of the picture. It may not seem right to most, but it is surely planned.

Tsuna and I have kept in very close contact since I was sent here to Japan and I had been given strict orders to keep most of the major training aside until the school year started. He may be "No Good Tsuna" for the rest of his life, but he is still my boss now. He has equipped Kurokawa Hana with a 3^7 ray gun that is to be used at any time she sees fit ever since I gave her a serious case of hives, which means I am required to behave.

Do not fret; the time Kiyohiko has been allotted to whine and complain has nearly come to a close. With the arrival of Damiano Dokuro, son of the Mist Guardian, I am allowed to tutor in my own style once again. Only time will tell if the other Guardian candidates shall be gathered together in time for the impeding Ring Battles. I will need to teach them as well what it takes to become good Mafia hitmen. I do not worry about most, like Haruhi and Masaru; they are more suited for this line of work than even their fathers were. It is those like Damiano who I will have the most trouble with. I have been preparing for this with the utmost care. Kiyohiko should be glad that I have more faith in him than I ever had in his father, else I would have ended up disregarding the Decimo's orders entirely from the beginning.

With any luck, I shall be able to whip this team into perfect shape. It shall take some interesting work, but things are beginning to look up already.

Now if you do not mind, Leon and I have some work to do.


	7. and So It Begins

**NOTES**: As promised, a new chapter within a short period of time. I mapped out a bunch of chapter details during the downtime before attending a seminar, so there is probably about a good seven or so chapters of planned material where I have no excuse for not writing them. I am also attempting to draw a certain scene from this chapter. Don't expect it soon though; I only think I can draw. Heh.

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: Amandy-san, MATTGASM, Echan1263 (via the forum) and klok755. Don't stop rocking, you guys!

* * *

Chapter Five

…_and So It Begins…_

Kiyohiko swam back to consciousness, groaning at the realization he had an awful crick in his neck from leaning on the table in his room. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he saw that Masaru, Haruhi and Damiano were still there as well, dressed in their uniforms and fast asleep. His cousin was sprawled out on one side of the table and Damiano was propped up against Haruhi (clad in her usual boys' uniform), who was propped up against Kiyohiko's bed, on the other. He looked at the clock and was surprised to find that it was already closing in on nine in the morning. It was Saturday, so he found there to be little problem with that.

_We must have studied harder than we thought_, Kiyohiko thought to himself. _It sucked that we have a test right after the first week, but at least we've studied. If we keep this up and do the same thing tomorrow, even Masaru-nii will pass this test with flying colors._

Standing up to stretch, Kiyohiko yawned lethargically and glanced outside the window. It was the beginnings of a perfect day outside; the sun was shining brightly, birds were singing, a gentle breeze floated through the air and rustled the leaves of the branch Reborn was sitting on.

Wait… Reborn was sitting on a tree branch…?

"What in the hell are you doing out there!" Kiyohiko hissed as he leaned out of his window. Reborn seemed rather unfazed by the teen and stayed where he was, seemingly enjoying the morning breeze.

"It is a good thing you kept your Family members here overnight, Yohi," Reborn stated. "It is going to be essential that they be here for this."

"I've told you I don't want them drug into this!" Kiyohiko stated, quite adamant in his stance. "Masaru-nii needs to study every chance he gets, Haruhi-san needs to practice her best for when the scouts come from the Central and Pacific Leagues and Damiano-kun is less cut out for the Mafia life than I am! Do not involve them."

"…and lose the most promising group of Mafia newcomers in over twenty years? You are obviously not thinking straight, Yohi." Reborn hopped down into Kiyohiko's room and jumped up onto the table. Aiming his gun at the ceiling, he fired off a shot that sounded more like a cannon than a pistol round. The three sleeping teens all woke up with a start, startled by the sudden noise. Damiano even made to duck underneath the bed.

"Wake up; it is time for everyone's Vongola Training," Reborn said. "You have ten minutes before we have to be out the door and headed towards the park."

"What're we gonna do at the park, Reborn-kun?" Haruhi asked while she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"You shall see. Get your sword Yamamoto; you shall need it."

"Then maybe I should go get some things from my house…" Damiano started, scrambling to his feet. "I'll meet you guys at the park!" He rushed out the door and disappeared.

"I'll meet up with you there too!" Haruhi said. "If I gotta get my sword, I need to change clothes."

"See you there then!" Masaru chuckled, turning down the hallway towards his room. Before long, it was only Kiyohiko and Reborn in the room.

"This weekend's gonna suck," the young Vongola muttered as he hit his head against his chest of drawers.

* * *

Dressed in their casual clothes and awaiting instruction, the four teens sat on a park bench while waiting for Reborn to join them. Haruhi twirled her bokken absentmindedly, while Damiano clutched a knapsack close to his chest. The cousins were on opposite emotional spectrums as well with Masaru happily inspecting his MMA gloves and Kiyohiko sourly slumped into the bench. The four could not have looked more different if they had tried.

"I wonder when Reborn-kun's gonna get here," Haruhi wondered aloud. "It's been much longer than ten minutes."

"I wish he'd just go away," Kiyohiko grumbled. "It's not right that you guys have to do this stuff too."

"We're your friends though Yohi-kun!" Haruhi grinned. "It's not like we would let you go off and be all by yourself. Winning the game takes teamwork and practice!"

"This isn't a game Haruhi-san," Kiyohiko replied, rather cross.

"Heh; you can't fool me," the girl said, standing up and pointing the tip of her bokken playfully at Kiyohiko. "What kind of a Mafia would need swordsmen, employ infants and be run by someone of the entirely wrong nationality? You seem to underestimate my woman's intuition."

"You seem to underestimate everything around you, Yamamoto Haruhi," Reborn said, suddenly appearing on the park bench where the girl had formerly been sitting. Damiano and Masaru both jumped, as neither of them saw the hitman-tutor sit down between them.

"So what kind of a game are we going to be playing today, Reborn-kun?" Haruhi asked. Reborn grinned… or at least let off an air of a grin.

"First, a history lesson for you four," he said.

"Aw, history sucks," Masaru groaned. Haruhi bopped the boy on the head with the bokken and they all listened.

"The Vongola Family is a powerful Mafia family dating back to the formation of the Mafia. Out of them all, the Vongola have some of the most influence, monetary value, foreign reach and respect out of all the Mafia families in the world.

"The first Vongola, Primo, was a wise and kind man who brought many different people together. Once the Primo retired, he moved away from Italy and set up a family here in Japan after handing over the Family to his younger cousin, the Secondo. Yohi is from that line and it is his duty to take up the title of Vongola Undicesimo.

"I am here under orders from Vongola Dicesimo, Yohi's father, to train Yohi to become a good boss. I have a secondary objective to assist him in collecting members for his future Family, as they shall become essential to his very survival."

"Uh-huh, yeah; like you have experience training future Mafia bosses," Kiyohiko frowned.

"I have trained future bosses in the past for not only the Vongola, but the Chiavorone and Tomaso as well. They are just a few of my prior clientele," Reborn said with an important air about him.

"Chiavorone… that's Andrea-nii and Rosario-nee's family name!" Haruhi said excitedly. "You mean you trained Andrea-nii before coming here?"

"Andrea, as well as his father Dino and Yohi's father Tsuna. I have many great bosses under my belt."

"Oh…? I bet you had a lot of failures too, didn't you?" Kiyohiko scowled, clearly unimpressed with what he believed to be a lie.

"The failures never lived long enough to do their families any harm," Reborn replied cheerily, pointing his pistol at Kiyohiko. The teen cocked an eyebrow at the pistol, only to jump back when it slithered up Reborn's arm and turned into a lizard.

"What the…!"

"This is Leon the Chameleon," Reborn explained, hopping down from the bench. "He is very important to me and shall become very important to you all within the coming months. Use my training well and before long, your four shall become a force to be reckoned with."

"Arcobaleno, just who are you trying to fool here?" Damiano asked in rapid English—too quick for anyone else but Reborn to understand. The others stared at Damiano, who had been so silent the entire time that they nearly forgot he was there. "You're making this all sound like this is too easy. Don't think we're that dull."

"You are only as good as your education allows you to be," Reborn replied calmly.

"Do you really expect us to believe that we will become an elite fighting force within the span of only a few months? If so, that is really what you are letting on!"

"Woah, where's this anger coming from Damiano-kun?" Haruhi asked. The half-Japanese boy realized his company and froze up.

"I'm… erm… just concerned about the standards Reborn has set for us," he replied, immediately adverting his eyes from the others. Damiano was reluctant to go on farther, but a group stare from his friends egged him on. "I do not doubt the abilities of Don Yohi or any of us by any means, but I have seen how Reborn has trained others and the people he can compare us to. You've missed out on an awful lot by staying locked up in the Vongola Compound and hiding here in Japan, Don Yohi."

"If you're talking about Foschia, then I think Haruhi and I've got you covered," Masaru laughed. "I doubt she's extreme enough to take the results of my training and walk away unscathed!"

"You don't know Sorella like I do," Damiano frowned, clutching his knapsack tighter. "She joined the Varia when we were thirteen… I don't think that's human."

"Dude…" Masaru said, slapping Damiano on the shoulder, "it's Foschia. I extremely doubt she's ever been normal."

"You're one to talk," Haruhi and Kiyohiko responded in unison. Masaru let the retort slide off him and turned to Reborn instead.

"So, why'd you have us bring our weapons down to the park, Reborn?"

"That is a very good question Masaru. Come with me," Reborn said. He walked over to a large stretch of grass and lined the teens up in a row.

"Today is going to be a test to see what you already know," the infant declared. "There is no failing in this round, so make it count. I want you to all demonstrate your fighting abilities to me one by one before we take this any further. Being the children of Mafia, there must be something for me to work with. Masaru, you are up first."

Masaru stepped forward and took a deep breath. Without warning, he burst into a flurry of quick attacks, pretending he was in a bout with an invisible opponent. By the time he crouched down into a finishing pose modeled after all the martial arts manga he had read, Masaru was breathing heavily and his hands were glowing a soft yellow. He stared at his hands in wonder.

"I see you have already been able to bring out the Dying Will Flame in a sense," Reborn noted.

"You mean like that stuff Dad and Tsuna-oji use?" Masaru asked.

"The very same," the infant assured.

"How extreme!" Masaru cheered, watching the light from his palms fade back to nothingness. He went back to his place in line, while Haruhi stepped up to take his place.

"It's a pretty good thing I've been practicing then, isn't it?" she asked with a grin. Without giving Reborn any time to respond, she demonstrated four of the forms of Shigure Souen Ryu.

"Do not be too cocky Haruhi; it is unbecoming," Reborn warned. "You have not had proper training in the sword. How long ago did you first receive the bokken?"

"That time when we went up to Namimori shrine and Masaru-kun and I sparred," Haruhi said. "I remembered watching my dad and jii-chan spar one time when I was little and those were some of the poses I saw."

"Fine then. Damiano, I would like to see you now."

Haruhi went back in line and Damiano stepped forward. He knelt down on the grass and emptied his knapsack. All sorts of different bombs, knives and other small, sharp objects poured out. The largest piece, however, was a boomerang that had sharpened edges.

"So then, trying to combine the Sesto and the Storm?" Reborn asked. Damiano tried to ignore the child and instead busied himself with putting together his weaponry. Once he was ready, Damiano threw the boomerang followed by a few miniature explosives. A tree about a hundred metres away began to fall down and exploded into flames upon hitting the ground.

Needless to say, Masaru was pleased.

"Wow! That's a pretty extreme way to use a boomerang!" he cheered, patting Damiano on the back as soon as the younger boy caught his returning weapon. Damiano looked back at Kiyohiko and Haruhi, who were both still staring at the burning tree.

"Did you like it Don Yohi?"

"Sure…"

"How about you Signorina Haruhi?"

"Dude… that was wicked," Haruhi gaped, looking as if she had just seen an epic chase scene in an action movie. Damiano blushed wildly at her reply.

"Now you Yohi," Reborn said, wanting to move things along. "Show me what you can do."

"Nothing," Kiyohiko stated, folding his arms in defiance. "I've never trained myself to use anything dangerous and I refuse to now."

"Oh, come on Yohi-kun," Haruhi whined. "You have to pick some sort of weapon to play the game! This kind of RPG doesn't need mages, so I doubt you could learn magic."

"Magic?" Kiyohiko said flatly. "Haruhi-san, think about what you're saying."

"Oh, wait… that's right! Chrome-san has those Misty illusions... I almost forgot! Do you want to learn some of those Misty illusions from Chrome-san and become our cleric?"

"No Haruhi-san, I don't want to become the group cleric," Kiyohiko deadpanned. "In fact, I want us all to not participate in this whatsoever and keep on going like normal kids."

"I am afraid that is not possible," Reborn said. "You have to be able to do something."

"Fine," Kiyohiko groaned. He shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out a pen and pad of paper. He scribbled something on the paper and held it out towards his unwanted tutor.

"…and what is that?" Reborn asked.

"My level sixteen Translation ability; I usually keep a pen and some paper on me to add plus two to my skills at a moment's notice. I'm less of an Action Man than you want me to be."

"Your nerd's showing Little Cousin," Masaru said. Kiyohiko frowned and glared at his cousin.

"Well, that is what I do best."

"Do not make me shoot you Yohi," Reborn threatened. "Now, what can you do?"

Kiyohiko groaned and put his pen and paper away. He crouched down into a fake martial arts stance that he saw on an anime once. Masaru fell to the ground laughing, while Haruhi and Damiano attempted to contain their laughter.

"Is that all you have?" Reborn asked. Kiyohiko frowned.

"I told you, I haven't exactly studied anything that could be useful in a fight. I don't like fighting or blood or how for some weapons you have to feel your opponent's demise and hear their last breath. It's all barbaric and nothing good comes of it."

"Hm…" Reborn pondered. The infant began to pace, muttering incoherently to himself. The four teenagers took a few paces back and converged amongst themselves.

"What do you think he's planning?" Haruhi asked.

"Oh, I know just what he's planning: to put us all in danger! I won't have any of it!" Kiyohiko snapped.

"Jeez Little Cousin, you sure have been extremely moody lately," Masaru noted.

"I think Don Yohi just understands the severity of this situation," Damiano said. "Our position is not good compared to what is expected of us."

"Leveling against the odds is pretty common in RPGs like this," Haruhi commented. "Let's go ahead and let Reborn-kun act like our Obi-Wan; it can't hurt us any and it's not like we have any monstrous level-seventies breathing down our backs."

"…and you said I was a nerd," Kiyohiko deadpanned at his cousin.

"Signorina Haruhi! This is something really dangerous and you could get hurt!" Haruhi was about to respond, but was cut off by the sudden appearance of Reborn on Kiyohiko's shoulder.

"I have made my assessment," Reborn said.

"Oh? What have you concluded then?" Kiyohiko asked sarcastically.

"Masaru is a lucky idiot, Haruhi is too cocky, Damiano is too slow and emotionally unwilling and Yohi… you are just a spoiled brat. I want you all to run around Namimori five times as penance."

The teens stood there, struck speechless. They stared at the infant, who casually blinked back. Things continued to stay silent until Leon slithered down from Reborn's hat and materialized into a gun.

That was when they all broke out into a hurried run.


	8. Hostage

**NOTES**: Jeezum crowe… I need a job. D: Now for some gratuitous and shameless advertizing—please, please, please would someone read my latest one-shot "Bizarre Traditions are Bizarre"? I posted it a while ago already. =3= Also, come check out Echan1263's "Just another forum" for fun KHR-related threads! We're trying out best, but only the two of us have posted anything as of late. We're lonely, so please come and visit! :D

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: MATTGASM, Amandy-san, klok755, ColinatorGX and Echan1263! You guys keep the reviewing up and I'll keep up the chapters!

* * *

Chapter Six

_Hostage!_

Lunchtime at Namimori Sr. High was not that much different than it was at Namimori Jr. High, as Kiyohiko had relished in discovering. He still was able to sneak around the school and eat wherever he pleased; thanking his lucky stars the Disciplinary Committee was nothing to worry about without a Hibari clansman in their ranks. Ever since school had started, Kiyohiko had taken to eating on the rooftop. It was spacious and for the most part fairly quiet, which perfectly suited his desire for personal space and alone time. It had not been long though before the rest of the gang caught up to him and Kiyohiko found himself in the middle of chaos once again.

"I don't know why you keep on trying to avoid us," Masaru said, ripping open the wrapper for his melon roll. Damiano and Haruhi had not come up to the roof yet, so it was just the two cousins. "It's like now that you're in high school, you're too good or something extremely rude like that."

"Trust me Masaru-nii, that's not it at all," Kiyohiko explained. He raised an eyebrow at his cousin's questionable choice in food. Kiyohiko had been packing himself a bento lunchbox to school as long as he had been living in Japan, yet he could not understand how Masaru insisted on forgoing the homemade lunches in lieu of melon rolls and bags of potato crisps instead.

"Well then, what is it?"

"It's just that with all the stuff that's been going on," Kiyohiko explained, "I've been feeling a little crowded lately. It must be puberty or something acting up."

"Okay," Masaru agreed, completely dropping the topic. He tore a large chunk off his roll with his teeth and changed the subject. "So how's your training been going with Reborn?"

"Not good," Kiyohiko frowned. "So far, all he has me doing is a lot of running and pushups and things like that. I feel more like I'm in boot camp than training for anything else. He says it's to get me in shape, but something tells me he's just sadistic."

"Hmm… that extremely sucks. Oi! Haruhi! Damiano! Over here!"

Kiyohiko glanced over his shoulder to see the missing two members of their troupe come wandering over from the staircase. Damiano and Haruhi joined the cousins and cracked open their own lunches.

"Guess what!" Haruhi grinned as she opened her bento. "Damiano-kun made me this! Isn't that nice of him? I had been planning on getting some noodles at the cafeteria, but this definitely works instead!"

Kiyohiko and Masaru both looked at Damiano with the same unimpressed expression, causing the boy to flush a furiously deep shade of red and advert his eyes. They knew that even though Haruhi was oblivious to the gesture, the males present had a clue as to the half-Japanese's motives.

"Isn't it a beautiful day?" the embarrassed teen asked, trying to change the subject. "I think the weatherman was lying on the television this morning when he forecasted rain for this afternoon."

"Yes," Kiyohiko said, going along with Damiano. "It's such a beautiful day that it makes me think things are at least halfway normal sometimes."

"You just need to think positive more," Haruhi said through a mouthful of rice. "You've been such a sourpuss the past few weeks that I have wanted to beat you absolutely senseless with a Happy Stick or something."

"The very thought of that frightens me," Kiyohiko said blandly. He had a feeling if the perpetually smiling girl were ever good on her threats, he would probably have a sore spot from being beaten constantly with an inflatable bat. Haruhi continued consuming her food at a near breakneck speed and ignored the retort from her friend.

"So, have you talked at all to Reborn today, Don Yohi?" Damiano asked. Kiyohiko shook his head.

"I haven't, which is beginning to weird me out. The last I saw him was at bedtime last night when he pitched that hammock in my room for himself. It's only a matter of time before he pops up and demands that we all do something crazy again."

"Now I would never have you do something crazy, Yohi?" Reborn's voice asked. Kiyohiko froze, rice hovering only centimeters from his mouth. Reborn came into view, encased in a large green ball with only his face exposed.

"What are you doing here Reborn? I'm at school," Kiyohiko frowned, placing his uneaten glob of rice back in the bento. "A tutor is supposed to be outside of school, correct?"

"I should have you run as penance, but I am feeling gracious today," the Reborn Ball said, bouncing idly up and down. "Haruhi, Damiano, how have you two been doing concerning your training?"

"Great," Haruhi grinned. "I talked to Dad on the phone last night and he says he's gonna properly show me the Shigure Souen Ryu when he comes back from Italy next week. He even said that if I do well, he'll show me some of the moves Squalo-jiji has used on him in battle."

"You're so brave Signorina Haruhi…" Damiano said in near awe.

"What? It's not like Dad's gonna be attacking me with an actual sword or anything…"

"No… you called Signore Squalo an old man," Damiano corrected. "Referring to him that way is usually considered akin to signing one's personal death warrant."

"Eh… been referring to him like that since I was little," Haruhi smirked. "Then again, the last time I saw him long enough to call him that to his face, I was nine. Mom didn't want me around him after that; he took his job of being the swordsman in the roleplay a little too seriously and Mom didn't really like that. He swore an awful lot too."

"Is that why you only know Italian cuss words and dirty Sicilian phrases?" Kiyohiko asked bluntly. Haruhi said nothing, but her laughing eyes begged to differ.

"Are you performing just as well in your self-training Damiano?" Reborn asked.

"Oh, very well, yes," Damiano replied enthusiastically. "I've been watching training footage of Signore Gokudera with his explosives and I believe I have learned a lot. There's definitely a reason why he was called 'Smoking Bomb' after all!"

"Good, good," Reborn muttered. "…and since I know that Masaru has been doing fine lately, I believe that we are ready for a group training exercise."

"A group training exercise?" Kiyohiko asked, rather incredulous. "What's the excuse this time?"

"Your family is not to the fullest potential yet, and I want there to be a few more members before I start bringing in tutors for the others."

"I thought I told you to leave them out of this…" Kiyohiko growled, picking up the Reborn Ball and stretching it at the sides. "I've given up protesting my involvement, but you really shouldn't drag these three, or anyone else, into this mess."

"Come to Namimori Park, five o' clock," Reborn said, completely ignoring Kiyohiko's anger. "I would like this to be a weaponless session, so leave the bokken, boomerang, gloves and explosives at home." With that, the Reborn Ball wriggled out of Kiyohiko's grasp and rolled off.

"Well," Masaru shrugged, "at least he didn't say anything about your notepad and pen Little Cousin."

"Ha, ha, ha… you're so witty," Kiyohiko said with the most sarcastic tone he could muster. "It's a shame I can't beat that kid's ass without being in danger of getting shot."

"Don't blame Reborn-kun for this," Haruhi said. "He's only a kid who wants to play. I'm sure he'll grow out of it soon enough and then he'll leave you alone for sure." Kiyohiko faked gratitude at Haruhi's words.

* * *

Masaru did not mind all the strange looks he was receiving as he walked down the street towards Namimori Park that afternoon. In fact, he was near completely oblivious to the odd stares and more concentrated on making sure he did not drop what he was carrying. It was a tough job being the responsible one, but someone had to do it.

"You know, it should be extremely unnecessary for me to carry you over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes just to go down to the park," the elder cousin said.

"Don't assume I enjoy this," Kiyohiko muttered, bobbing jerkily with Masaru's gait.

"Hey, you were the one who extremely refused to come on your own."

"…because Yamigawa-sensei gave us three whole chapters of homework that's due before class tomorrow…"

"…and that's why we have Haruhi-chan's work to copy off of!" Masaru said cheerfully. Kiyohiko let off a little whining sound as he gave up the argument. Copying Haruhi's coursework was how his cousin got through middle school when all was said and done. The only problem he had to ponder now was if the affection in Masaru's voice was for the girl or her homework.

Before long, Kiyohiko found himself being dropped on the grass unceremoniously. Landing with an –urk—, he saw that they had reached where Damiano and Haruhi were already sitting in wait.

"Glad you made it Yohi-kun, Masaru-kun," Haruhi smiled. "Damiano-kun just got here, so now all we need is Reborn-kun to show up!"

"Great," Kiyohiko grumbled, trying not to wince as he got up. He had landed a little too sharply on his hip for comfort. "You know, it's probably going to be a ton of running if you want to know the truth."

"Sourpuss…!" Haruhi teased, putting the young Vongola into a headlock and grinding her fist into his skull. Kiyohiko flailed his arms about in an attempt to escape, while Masaru laughed and Damiano looked like he almost wanted to trade places with him.

Amongst the commotion, the teens had completely forgotten their surroundings and did not notice the other people milling about in the park. A few children laughed at them and an old lady stared before moving on. The teens gave them no notice, nor did they give the men in suits any notice.

It was not long though, before Damiano, Kiyohiko and Haruhi noticed that Masaru was no longer there laughing—an eerie silence taking his place instead.

"Woah, where's Masaru-kun?" Haruhi wondered, allowing her grip on Kiyohiko to relax.

"He was right here just a moment ago…" Damiano wondered, looking at the spot next to him where the older boy once stood. He glanced up at Kiyohiko and tilted his head to the side. "Hey, wasn't Signorina Haruhi standing right there behind you?"

"Haruhi-san…?" Kiyohiko gasped, spinning around only to be met with an empty park. He turned back to Damiano, only to find that he was not there as well.

_No…!_ Kiyohiko panicked. _No, no, no, no! __They can't be gone! No!_ The young Vongola began to look all around, his eyes darting to the trees and brush and anywhere else he could. He spun around and jumped back when he saw Reborn suspended from a tree.

"What the…?" he gasped, his heart skipping a beat. Reborn grinned and began rolling up and down the length of rope.

"You seem frantic, Yohi," the infant noted.

"Yeah! My friends just disappeared!" Kiyohiko snapped. "What did you do with them!"

"I did nothing, Yohi," Reborn said casually. "Some men absconded with them."

"I'm just going to assume you mean they were kidnapped," the teen frowned. Kiyohiko tore at his hair and began kicking the grass. "Great… just great! Here I am without a weapon or a skill and my friends get kidnapped!"

"Take this," Reborn said, holding out a gun. Kiyohiko looked at him suspiciously, but took the gun anyways. "They are being held in the old Kokuyo building."

"Kokuyo?" Kiyohiko gasped. "That place has been abandoned since Dad was a kid! It should have been torn down years ago!"

"You better hurry Yohi, or else it might become too late. It is the job of a proper boss to defend his Family at any given moment with any given cost."

"Damn it…!" Kiyohiko whined, reluctantly headed off in the direction of the old Kokuyo Middle School. "Thanks for loaning me Leon at least!"

"That is what a tutor is for," Reborn said, continuing to roll up and down the rope. Once Kiyohiko was out of sight, the infant dropped to the ground and chuckled.

"He really is an idiot, isn't he Leon?" he wondered aloud. Leon the Chameleon slithered out of Reborn's jacket and sat upon the infant's hat, flicking his tongue for a fly.

* * *

Kiyohiko let out a little whimper as he came within sight of the old Kokuyo building. Dilapidated and beyond salvaging, it was a large eyesore in Namimori. Kiyohiko tried to sneak around through the back, as that was the only way in which he could enter without it looking as if he disappeared into thin air; to his knowledge, Mukuro's powerful illusions kept the place under the guise of a modern water-pumping station that required little maintenance to all but those who required the building's true potential as a hideaway place. The very notion that the kidnappers were able to get into Kokuyo unnerved the teen greatly as he crept through the building.

_I hope I'm not dealing with any Mist_ illusionists, Kiyohiko thought, clutching the gun shakily. _Come on Leon… help me out here. Where did they bring Masaru-nii, Haruhi-san and Damiano-kun? I just want to get them and go home._

After the weapon gave no inclination to assist him, Kiyohiko grumbled to himself and decided he was going to go up the stairs. Feeling slightly like a character from a Bond film, Kiyohiko ascended the staircase with his back to the wall and pistol at the ready. He poked his head out of the staircase and glanced around in an attempt to catch sight of someone. It did not matter who he found, just as long as his friends were still alive.

Carefully creeping through the rooms, Kiyohiko's eyes darted warily all about him in an attempt to stay on his toes. His heart began pounding so hard that he could feel the blood coursing through his veins. It was pumping so hard that he was developing a headache with every moment that passed.

Finally, Kiyohiko saw both what he wanted to find and what he wanted to stay far away from. Masaru, Haruhi and Damiano were sitting together, all awake and seemingly fine. However, there was a masked guard with a very large gun standing close by and the three hostages were all bound with rope. Kiyohiko ducked behind a pile of busted concrete and paused.

_Alright… there's only one guard. You can do this Yohi… you've got Leon. Yeah. Leon will help you out. I mean… Leon shoots out Dying Will Bullets and I'm sure the last thing his guy wants to do before he dies is kill a bunch of teenagers._

_Okay… this is it… three…_

…_two…_

…_one…_

Kiyohiko jumped to his feet and quickly shot the guard, the mark hitting the man directly in the forehead. The teenager froze as the guard crumpled to the ground, bleeding all over the place.

"Yohi-kun…?" Haruhi gasped. Kiyohiko ran over to the three in tears and began untying them.

"That was extremely cool of you Little Cousin!" Masaru grinned, proud of his rescuer.

"Hurry up before he pops back up!" Kiyohiko panicked, ignoring his cousin. "I shot him with Leon, so the Dying Will Bullet should take effect any moment now!"

"It looks like he's dead to me," Damiano said, staring wide-eyed at the guard as he began bleeding out on the floor. "Shooting someone in the forehead generally equates to death."

"Not when Reborn loans me Leon," Kiyohiko said, getting Damiano untied. Once all four teens could move, they bolted for the exit and did not stop running until they reached Haruhi's house, as it was the closest.

"Hahi… what's with you kids?" Haru asked as her kitchen suddenly became filled with out-of-breath, frazzled teenagers. She had been preparing some snacks at the time and had honestly not expected the foursome to return until hours later.

"We were just playing Mom…" Haruhi panted, leaning on a chair. "You know that roleplay game…? It's really getting realistic. You'd be amazed. Even Yohi-kun's finally getting into it."

"Yes, Yohi has been conforming to his role nicely," Reborn said, hopping up onto the table. "You successfully defended your Family members and took out a member of the opposition. That is quite an accomplishment."

"Wow… thanks Reborn," Kiyohiko breathed, smiling faintly. He held out the gun towards Reborn. "Here's Leon back, by the way. Thanks for loaning him to me."

"Oh, no, you keep it Yohi," Reborn said cheerfully. Leon slithered out from underneath the infant's hat and stared innocently at a now speechless Kiyohiko.

"Don Yohi…" Damiano said weakly, "something tells me that was not a Dying Will Bullet."

"Oh crap," Masaru cursed. His voice squeaked in the shock he shared with Kiyohiko and Damiano. The three boys were so freaked out over the thought that Kiyohiko had killed someone that they did not so much as flinch when someone began knocking at the outside door to the kitchen.

"Could you please get that Haruhi?" Haru asked as she began setting some food on the table. Haruhi complied and opened the door, only to find the blood-encrusted kidnapper from before standing in the doorway.

"Hiiiiii!" Haruhi squeaked, scrambling to hide behind Masaru and Damiano. Haru frowned and made her way towards the door.

"I'm glad you could make it," she told the man politely as he stepped into the kitchen.

"Don't do it Mom! He kidnapped us earlier!" Haruhi squeaked. The boys, late in registering the fact that there was a visitor in the house, all blanched at the sight of the man who they thought Kiyohiko had just murdered. In fact, most of what they were able to do was stare and sputter unintelligibly.

"I would like you all to meet Moretti," Reborn said, motioning towards the man. He took off his ski mask and revealed his kind face and nervous smile. "He is an expert at getting assassinated."

"Don't you only get assassinated once, only if you're super important?" Kiyohiko squeaked, his face sheet-white.

"Moretti's specialty is feigning death, all the way down to the bodily signs. Playing possum comes in handy when infiltrating enemy Family bases. The gun I gave you had blanks in it, leaving Moretti unharmed."

"So that's why you're covered in that fake blood," Haru said, clearly unimpressed. "I should've known better when Takeshi called and said a coworker was coming over to bring me something. I bet you only scared the kids when you set off the fake blood packet because they were scared out of their wits."

"How did you know Mrs. Yamamoto?" Moretti asked, scratching the back of his head and blushing furiously in embarrassment. "Most people can't tell the difference, even in the Mafia."

"Just because I married an idiot doesn't mean that I'm one too," Haru said, snatching the envelope from Moretti's now outstretched hand. "Now sit down and have something to eat; I bet you're starved from that plane ride."

"You're too kind Mrs. Yamamoto," Moretti said, taking a seat at the table. He happily began eating, while it took the teens all they had to not fall over in shock.


	9. I am Not A Tray of Nibbles

**NOTES**: Whooo! Have I ever been busy! D: My brain's been up on the Satellite of Love for the past few weeks, which certainly delayed the writing of this (unbeta-ed) chapter greatly. Then again, it has been for a good cause, so there. :D

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: MATTGASM, ColinatorGX, Amandy-san, Echan and DigiDork. ^_^

* * *

Chapter Seven

_I am Not a Tray of Nibbles_

Blinking sleepily, Kiyohiko yawned and leaned back to lie down on the floor. He had just spent the last five hours studying classical Japanese literature, mathematics and world history. The only subject left to study was English, which he was already quite fluent in, which meant that he was in for another hour and a half of helping Masaru and Haruhi in the subject. Lucky for Kiyohiko though, Damiano had proven himself to be highly proficient in the subject since he started studying with them.

"Let's get going right away," Damiano said happily, taking out his English textbook from his backpack. "If we can get this one in a couple hours, then we can still go catch a movie at the Shopping Centre before it gets too late."

"This is an extreme waste of a Saturday," Masaru groaned in retaliation. He was absolutely itching to get outside and do something other than study before the sun set. The teen had been getting more and more anxious as the sun sank lower and lower in the sky.

"We have to get through this before we do anything else, Masaru-nii," Kiyohiko said, still staring at the ceiling. "I don't want you failing under my watch."

"You worry too much Little Cousin," Masaru frowned. Kiyohiko sat up straight.

"I worry only because you don't worry enough!"

"…and you two need to get along a bit better so that we can finish this," Haruhi said, her smile betrayed by the bite in her voice. "Mom actually wants me home for dinner tonight."

"So then I guess it would be useless to invite you to stay," Hana said, leaning on the doorjamb. The teens looked over at the woman, who seemed to have an unusual smile on her face.

"You're acting weird today Hana-san," Masaru told his father's girlfriend. "First you bring us snacks without us asking and now you're talking nicely about keeping Haruhi for dinner…"

"…Damiano as well," Hana interjected. "Can't be rude now."

"Yeah… but Haruhi eats like a pig!" This resulted in a textbook to Masaru's temple. "You're extremely not used to cooking for that many people!"

"Shows what you know," Hana smirked. "I guess I'm just going to have to call Haru-san over and ask if she could join us as well…"

"You're extremely up to something!" Masaru said, pointing an accusing finger. Hana simply laughed and walked out of sight.

"I wonder what that's about," Damiano said after an awkward silence.

"With Hana-san, it's hard saying exactly what's going through her brain," Kiyohiko said, casually flipping through the pages in his English textbook.

"Dad has something to do with this… I've got this extreme gut feeling," Masaru grumbled. He leaned backwards until he was flat on his back and began balancing his pencil on his nose.

"Well, let's get some homework done before she calls us down for dinner then," Damiano said. "We can pair up and get through everything much quicker."

"…and I take it you've got Haruhi-san…?" Kiyohiko deadpanned just low enough so that only Damiano hear. Damiano simply blushed and turned towards the tomboy in question, ready to begin the lessons.

* * *

It was eerily quiet at the dinner table. Haru had come over for dinner, which allowed Haruhi to stay over as well. The teens were all silent as they dished out their food, not enjoying the rather awkward vibes Haru and Hana seemed to be giving out.

"Kiyohiko, have you seen Reborn?" Hana asked casually after a few minutes of silence.

"No, I haven't," Kiyohiko muttered into his food. "Frankly, it's better that way sometimes."

"So kids, tell me about how the school year's been coming along," Haru said enthusiastically. "I know Haruhi has been doing relatively fine, but how about you boys?"

"Coming along great, Signora Yamamoto," Damiano said. "We just got in a full day's worth of studying today. I think the sessions really pay off."

"I think so too," Kiyohiko added. "Masaru-nii seems to be doing better now that we're all studying together."

"Didn't you two used to study together in middle school?" Haru asked.

"The only studying they did as a group was when Haruhi would come over and let Masaru copy her papers," Hana smirked. "Don't let them fool you Haru."

"So much for you being nice today Hana-san…" Masaru grumbled. "At least now I know you weren't replaced by an alien."

"You did a good job keeping them together and here, Hana," a small voice squeaked. The teens all froze up at the sound of the voice.

"Oh, no… don't tell me…" Kiyohiko groaned.

"That is correct," Reborn said, hopping up onto the table. He was brandishing Leon, who had morphed into a sniper rifle, and dressed in swamp camouflage. "Tonight, we have a training session."

"What on earth are we going to be doing at night that we can't possibly wait until the weekend for?" Kiyohiko grumbled. Reborn gained a glint in his eye and happily responded.

"Breaking into Namimori Junior High."

"Oh… I can't eat anymore," Damiano whimpered. He sunk low in his seat and went ghost-pale.

"I don't think I can condone this," Haru said. "Reborn-kun, you may know what is best for the kids' training, but if you land yourselves in trouble, I am not going to get you out of it."

"Do not worry Haru," Reborn said in an assuring voice. "The police will not even realize there was a break-in; I already disabled the alarms that alert the station."

However, the police were not the least of the teens' worries.

* * *

"I don't know about this…" Kiyohiko said as Haruhi worked on picking the lock to the gate. The sun had long set and everyone was there equipped with the things they needed to fight. "What happens if Hibari-san catches us?"

"Hibari-jiji's out of town, so relax," Masaru grinned. "Besides, all we have to do is get up to the roof and get that doo-hickey—"

"—gyroscope—" Kiyohiko interrupted.

"—yeah… we'll find that thing and get out of there. I'm sure it'll only take about fifteen minutes."

"Giallo Arcobaleno, this is not going to end well," Damiano hissed in a low whisper. "I swear, if this puts Signorina Haruhi in any sort of danger, I'm gonna…"

"You are going to what…?" Reborn grinned from his perch on Kiyohiko's shoulder, still dressed in him camouflage. Damiano was going to continue, but stopped himself short when Kiyohiko noticed the taller boy bending down and threatening his shoulder.

"Got it!" Haruhi grinned as the lock popped open. "If there's one reason why Bel-jiji was ever tolerable when I was little, it was because he taught me how to pick locks." It was true; Takeshi had left his daughter alone with the Varia on more than one occasion while over in Italy when she was a child and one of the few things any of the assassins could stand doing with the child was teacher her to pick locks, cuss and everything else they could manage would end up getting the Vongola swordsman in trouble.

"See that Damiano, she puts her life in her own hands," Reborn smirked. The half-Italian boy sighed and followed his friends into the abandoned middle school's grounds.

"Stay close Damiano-kun, since you never went here, you could get lost," Haruhi said once they reached the doors.

"He's extremely not an idiot, Haruhi," Masaru frowned. Haruhi just grinned, took Reborn and began running up the stairs towards the third level.

"Haruhi-san! Wait up!" Kiyohiko cried out as the boys all chased after her. They only got to halfway up the second years' stairwell until a figure slammed down onto the stairs, separating the two groups. The figure had a staff clutched in his hands and a look of fierce disdain on his face that made all but Reborn gulp in fear.

"You don't belong here anymore," he hissed.

"Osamu-kun, don't worry, it's just us," Haruhi said in an attempt to drive away the boy. Hibari Osamu was only a first-year in Namimori Junior High, yet his ferocity already had made him head prefect and the most feared being since his father, Kyoya.

The boy turned towards Haruhi and growled, the features he inherited from his father lit clearly by the moon. "I'll bite all of you to death for breaking the rules in such a manner, thinking yourselves to be exceptions." With just a twitch of his wrists, the staff broke apart to become two elongated tonfa. He lunged at Haruhi, only to have to spin around mid-attack and deflect a throwing knife from lodging itself in his back.

"Uh-oh," Damiano gulped, caught red-handed with one hand still in his knapsack and a lit lighter wedged between his teeth. Osamu charged, sending the older boys running for their lives.

"Go get the thing-a-ma-bob, Haruhi!" Masaru yelled over his shoulder before jumping over a half-dozen steps to a landing. He bolted in one direction down the first-years' hall, while Kiyohiko and Damiano decided to skid down the other end.

"Sure thing!" Haruhi said, making her way for the third-years' floor, which would lead to the roof staircase. She finally reached the top and grinned as she saw the roof where, just a few months before, she was eating lunch and hanging out with Kiyohiko and Masaru.

"No dawdling," Reborn said. "Find the gyroscope."

"Gyro-what-now?" Haruhi asked, walking further away from the door. Glancing around, a small, spinning thing caught her eye as it glinted in the moonlight.

"Hiii… Reborn-kun, is this it?"

However, Reborn did not answer. Haruhi spun around, looking for the infant hitman, but could not find him. Moving quickly, Haruhi scooped up the little spinning object and bolted down the stairs to the first years' corridor, where Damiano and Kiyohiko were doing their very best to dodge Osamu's attacks.

"Get away from them!" Haruhi yelled, drawing her bokken. She threw the gyroscope at Kiyohiko and swung the bokken at Osamu, who promptly blocked with his tonfa.

"Now I don't need to track you down," Osamu sneered. He and Haruhi then began to exchange a few blows in rapid succession, neither gaining the upper hand over the other.

"Haruhi-san…" Kiyohiko groaned, upset that his friend did not make a run for it.

"I wish they'd hold still," Damiano muttered. He had a throwing knife in his hand and was attempting to track their movements. "If I could only get a clean shot…"

"EXTREME FIGHTING SPIRIT!" Masaru's voice rang out. Osamu seemed to not notice the lumbering footfalls coming from around the corner and continued to battle it out with Haruhi. Masaru turned the corner and made way to punch the middle school boy from behind. When Osamu tried to turn around and block the attack, he was too late and the bright-yellow fist connected with his face, forcing him to fly backwards and tumble into the wall.

"Masaru-nii!" Kiyohiko gasped, pointing at his cousin's fists. "You're on fire!"

"Not just that he's on fire, Osamu's out cold!" Damiano squeaked. "I mean, you must have broken his nose and cheekbone doing that!"

"Masaru is the most capable out of all of you at the moment," Reborn said, appearing next to the unconscious middle school student. "He has been able to somewhat harness the power of his Sun Attribute for battle, while I have yet to see anything out of the rest of you."

"I don't even see the point of us getting that thing…" Haruhi said, pointing at the gyroscope in Kiyohiko's hand. "What was the point?"

"I had wanted you four to face an opponent that none of you desired to face," Reborn said. "All of you know the ferocity of Osamu when he fights. I doubt Haruhi would have been able to finish him on her own." Reborn stepped aside for Osamu's pet Capuchin monkey Osaru to rush over to his master.

"I still extremely don't get how the monkey lives with the kid," Masaru muttered, staring at his hands as the fire emanating from them faded into nothing. "He's an extreme psychopath!"

"Which is why I'm glad he's not in the same school as us," Kiyohiko said, inching over so that he stood behind his cousin. "That kid has always scared me; he looks and acts exactly like Hibari-san."

Suddenly, Osamu began to groan and sat up. He stared at the foursome of teens and Reborn with an uncharacteristically inquisitive look. The boy then did something that sent shivers down the teenagers' backs: he giggled.

"Hello there! Why are we all here at night? Is there some sort of school festival going on?"

"Just back away slowly…" Haruhi muttered under her breath. Everyone was staring at the kid as they attempted to creep away. Osamu blinked and touched his nostrils, which had blood all over them. His eyes lit up as he saw the red liquid all over his fingers.

"Cool! I'm bleeding!" he laughed. "You guys should see this! It's awesome!"

He looked up to see that the others were not there. In fact, they had run off and did not stop until they were safe inside Kiyohiko and Masaru's house.


	10. Chop Sooky Saki

**NOTES**: So I go away on a nine-day holiday and I end up cranking out two more chapters, plus am able to tack in a pre-written chapter I had written about four months prior. 8D Wicked sweet. Now if only those mosquito bites will stop itching…

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: Echan, Amandy-san, ColinatorGX (_you crafty bugger :D_) and MATTGASM!

* * *

Chapter Eight

_Chop Sooky Saki_

The next Monday, the foursome of teens that had invaded Namimori Junior High were all half-asleep as they trudged into class. The entire Sunday after they were chased around by Osamu had been filled with nervously awaiting the moment when the elder Hibari would burst into the door and demand an explanation as to why his son was so off emotionally. Kyoya did not arrive, however, making their bouts of fright in vain; the man was one of the few things that the teens could agree on to be equally terrifying when angered.

This pronounced lack of sleep was so noticeable that their classmates thought something was up. No one questioned it though, as when Masaru's head collided with his desk the teen jumped out of his seat and tried to punch an imaginary opponent. Said imaginary opponent ended up being right where a very cranky Haruhi's shoulder was and ended with both of them being sent down to the headmaster's office. The two were down there so long that their scolding lasted into lunch.

"I wonder how long they're going to keep Masaru-nii and Haruhi-san," Kiyohiko wondered as he shoved a clump of rice into his mouth. He was sitting on the roof with Damiano and Saki, almost enjoying the unnatural peace that accompanied them.

"I hear that the headmaster we have is in his second year here at Namimori and that he's ultra-strict compared to the previous man!" Saki said, waving around her chopsticks. "Something tells me those two will be lucky to get away with just a detention."

"…but Signorina Haruhi and Signore Masaru did nothing out of the ordinary for them," Damiano said. The teen had even brought an extra lunch for Haruhi to boot and it was simply sitting there going to waste.

"'…out of the ordinary for them,' are the key words here, Damiano-san," Kiyohiko frowned. "The man has to treat them like they were any other set of students that started a fist fight in the middle of math class."

"…but I doubt that normally means that they have to stay through lunch," Saki said. The raven-haired girl grinned in Damiano's direction. "If those two aren't back by lab science how about if we partner up, since Yoko-chan's out sick for the day."

"Duck," Damiano said.

"Yeah… we're going to be dissecting ducks in a few weeks…" Saki went on.

"No, DUCK!" Damiano shouted, diving to the ground and taking Saki and Kiyohiko with him. A small rocket whizzed overhead and missed the teens by barely a meter, finally exploding on the wire fencing surrounding the roof's edge.

"Kahahaha!" laughed a voice from above. The teens looked up to see that there was a man standing on an elevated part of the roof, holding another rocket in hand whilst another dozen or so were strung around his chest like machine gun munitions.

"Don Yohi, get Signorina Saki out of here…" Damiano whispered, fumbling through his jacket pockets for his bombs, boomerang and lighter. "I can take care of him."

"Who is that?" Saki gasped.

"Don't know; long story—let's go," Kiyohiko muttered, trying to lead Saki towards the door. The girl was frozen stiff in terror though.

"I have found you at last Vongola brat!" the assassin said haughtily. "You have no idea what I had to go through to find you…"

"L-L-Leave him a-a-a-alone!" Damiano stuttered. He tried to hook together his boomerang with a few explosives, yet his fingers were trembling so bad that he nearly cut himself on the boomerang's blade instead.

"He's not much of a henchman, I can tell you that right now," the stranger scoffed, sizing up Damiano. The man tossed a smoke screen towards the trio, blinding them all. The boys were horrified to find that the assassin had taken Saki hostage once the smoke had cleared, keeping a knife against her throat and on high ground once again.

"Now, come quietly Vongola or this pretty little thing is going to get it!" he chortled.

"Keep Saki-san out of this!" Kiyohiko shouted, subconsciously reaching for the handgun in his jacket's inner pocket.

"You know that everyone's fair game just as well as I do," the assassin said, pressing the blade a little closer. Saki let out a soft squeaking sound. Kiyohiko grit his teeth as his grip around the gun handle grew tighter.

"Then I guess that this means that it's safe to take out you as well," came a voice from the shadows. "GYOZA KEN!"

The man instantly was knocked off of his feet by an invisible force, allowing Saki to hop down and run behind Damiano. A woman, clad in red Chinese martial arts garb, appeared out of seemingly nowhere and threw down the assassin at once, knocking him unconscious in one hit.

"…and that takes care of that," she said.

"Wow… you're amazing…" Saki marveled from behind Damiano's elbow. "Who are you, lady?"

"Hmm…?" The woman glanced up and frowned. "You're not Haruhi."

"No… Haruhi-san would have already killed the man," Kiyohiko sighed, reluctantly giving in. "Saki, this is I-Pin-san. She's a friend of my dad's and kind of like an aunt. I-Pin-san, this is my classmate Takizawa Saki."

"You're lucky that Tsuna sent me to take care of this hit," I-Pin said. "From the looks of things, this guy would have gotten a lot farther with you guys than he did now. Have you seen Reborn?"

"Not since first period," Kiyohiko said. "Frankly, I don't want to see him for the rest of the day; I have a test to study for."

"You Japanese people and all your tests and studying…" I-Pin said. "I understand the importance of an education just like most people, but the constant testing and workload is enough to drive anyone mad!"

"I-Pin-san went to school in Japan," Kiyohiko explained to Saki.

"Hey, can you teach me some of that…?" Saki asked, stepping out from behind Damiano and staring hopefully at I-Pin. "You took out that guy with just one hit! You didn't even touch him the one time!"

"It takes tons of proper training and a lifetime of commitment to that training," I-Pin explained. "I will not teach you Gyoza-ken, if that was what you wanted."

"…but you're so cool!"

"Signorina Saki, she is serious," Damiano explained. "Signora I-Pin doesn't have the time to train anyone right now with all the work she does."

"What kind of work do you do?" Saki asked. Panicking, Kiyohiko jumped between the two women and began to laugh uncomfortably.

"She's just a performer and that was part of her latest set of stunts!" the boy said.

"No I'm not…" I-Pin said bluntly. "I'm an assassin working for your father. I had been under the impression you knew of the whole Mafia thing years ago already."

"Mafia…?" Saki asked. "…like the Godfather and Baccano and in my dad's collection of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure manga?" She shot Kiyohiko a look that seemed like it could bore holes through steel.

"Saki-san… I can explain…"

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" the girl asked, her mood whiplashing back to excitement. "Yama-chan was telling me about some sort of game you guys like to play after school, but I guess that's what the cover is."

"Something tells me that if Haruhi mentioned it as just a game, then she's more like Takeshi than I feared," I-Pin frowned, slinging the still-unconscious man over her shoulder. "Just as dense as her father, I assume."

"Denser," Kiyohiko and Saki said simultaneously. I-Pin laughed and began to head towards the roof's edge.

"If you want to be able to fight people like me, Saki-chan, then you have to find what you're good at first," she said. "Hard work and dedication are the only ways about it and I'll tell you—I've been at this since I was three years old—so you have a lot of catching up to do."

"So you won't train me then?"

"I doubt Bo-tan would be able to stand for it," I-Pin laughed. Kiyohiko and Damiano's stomachs churned just a little at the reminder of the Chinese woman's relationship with the Vongola's current Thunder Guardian, which was well-known throughout the Mafia as being one of the most dangerous love affairs to have existed within its echelons in generations.

"Take care Yohi! A Vongola needs to take decent care of himself!" I-Pin smiled. With that, she hopped off the roof and vanished into the hustle and bustle of Namimori.

"Let's go see if Masaru-nii and Haruhi-san are out of the headmaster's office yet," Kiyohiko sighed after a while.

* * *

It turned out that the headmaster kept Haruhi and Masaru in his office for the rest of the day, only allowing them to fetch some coursework to do during lunch. By the time school was over, he allowed them fifteen minutes to go and eat before needing to return for a two-hour long detention.

"It totally sucks," Haruhi managed to say between large portions of the bento Damiano had brought to their classroom that was now empty save for the four teens. "The man wouldn't even let us so much as sneeze without being glared at."

"Sounds like he really is a strict man," Kiyohiko said, mostly to humor her. Frankly, he was just surprised that the two of them had not been punished more often in middle school.

"I can't even ask Haruhi to explain anything to me!" Masaru whined. "Then when I sit there doing nothing, 'cause I extremely don't know how to get it, the man yells at me! The man's an extreme loony."

"Well, this never would have happened had you not fallen asleep and punched Signorina Haruhi," Damiano said.

"It was a reflex…" Masaru hissed through his melon roll. Haruhi rolled her eyes and groaned in disapproval.

"There you guys are!" sighed Michiko, a classmate of theirs, as she came into the classroom. "Dokuro-kun, Sawada-kun, you were with Takizawa-chan during lunch, right?"

"Yeah," Kiyohiko said. "Why? Is there something wrong?"

"She hasn't shown up to the weekly literature club meeting yet and she's never late… ever. She's always the first one there. I was wondering if she told you where she was going instead."

"Unfortunately, she didn't tell us anything about her after-school plans," Damiano shrugged. "I wish we could help."

"Hmm…" Michiko pondered. "Oh well; I do know that she was pretty out-of-it during Classical Lit, so maybe she just went home instead. Looked like she had a lot on her mind."

"Maybe so…" Kiyohiko smiled. Michiko left and the young Vongola sighed in relief.

"I hope to the Gods she doesn't tell anyone," he said.

"We made her swore to keep it a secret," Damiano said. "I have no idea why she wouldn't keep her promise."

"What now…?" Haruhi asked, her interest piquing.

"Signorina Saki ate lunch with Don Yohi and me on the roof today and we were attacked by some assassin. Signora I-Pin saved us and Signorina Saki found out about the Mafia."

"Oh, I've told her all about the game we're playing," Haruhi said nonchalantly. "She said it sounded fun."

"Well, I'm sure that her disappearance after school had something to do with the assassin and I-Pin-san," Kiyohiko said.

"I just hope that I-Pin stays in town for a while," Masaru said. "I've wanted to spar with her for a long time."

"Well, you're going to have to wait a little while longer for whatever it was you wanted to do, because your time is up," the headmaster said, barging into the room on only the last part of Masaru's statement. He was a very stern-looking man with a thin face and narrow eyes. "Now you two better get moving or I am going to turn the two hours into three."

"Coming sir," Masaru and Haruhi groaned. The two rose from their seats and sourly followed the headmaster out of the room.

"Want to take a little bit of a break from studying, since we don't have Haruhi-san and Masaru-nii to snap back into focus?" Kiyohiko asked as he cleaned up his cousin's empty wrappers.

"Sure," Damiano replied.

* * *

A short while later, Damiano and Kiyohiko found themselves walking along inside the Namimori Shopping District. They were out of their uniforms and comfortable, for the most part, with the exception of Reborn deciding to tag along. So, really, as long as one did not include Reborn into the equation, it was just a pair of good friends trying to kill a few hours in the shopping district.

Reborn, however, never allowed himself to be taken out of an equation.

"You must be either training or searching for other members for your family, Yohi," the infant said as he walked along, eating a large lollipop. "This is no way to spend an afternoon while Haruhi and Masaru are being held hostage back at school."

"For one, it's just detention," Kiyohiko grumbled, "and two, I'm allowed to relax a little bit, aren't I?"

"No," Reborn said plainly. Kiyohiko buried his face in his hand, not wanting to even dignify that with a retort.

Suddenly, there was the sound of shattering glass up ahead of them and the two teens instantly heightened their attention. A few storefronts up, there was a man in karate gi lying on the sidewalk in obvious pain. Someone with black hair poked their head out and gasped in horror.

"I'm so sorry! I guess I don't know my own strength!"

"Saki-san…?"

"Signorina Saki…?"

Sure enough, it was Saki coming out of the small dojo to help the man up. She perked up when she saw her classmates running up to her.

"Hi there Sawada-kun! Dokuro-kun!"

"I didn't know you were taking karate classes..." Kiyohiko said.

"Well, I wasn't," Saki said. She led the man to the door and turned back to the boys. "I just couldn't get I-Pin-san off my mind all during class today, so I decided that once school let out I would come down to my cousin's dojo and ask him for a couple of pointers on fighting. It looks like I'm really getting the hang of it!"

"This is your cousin's dojo?" Damiano asked.

"Well, kind of," Saki said. "The two of us actually come from a long line of karate and martial arts masters, so the real dojo is our home. This is the place where all but the most advanced students come to train."

"So you are from a family of powerful warriors; fighting is in your blood," Reborn said.

"You could say that," Saki said, looking down at the talking baby in amusement.

"How about if you join Yohi's Mafia Family," Reborn said. Saki's eyes lit up in delight just as soon as Kiyohiko and Damiano's could darken in despair.

"Of course!" she smiled. "That way I can be just as cool as I-Pin-san!" the girl said. "In that case, I have a lot of catching up to do! I'll see you two in school tomorrow!" Saki ran back into the dojo, leaving Kiyohiko and Damiano alone with Reborn.

"I hate you," Kiyohiko growled. "Every time you show up, something bad happens."

"No," Reborn said, continuing to meander along his merry way. "Merely, important things happen when I am around; even your father could have gotten that right."


	11. GTFO Genius

**NOTES**: Here's a short chapter. Also, best look at my notes at the bottom of the page, so as not to spoil the fun.

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: Echan, Amandy, Charpie and ColinatorGX

**SHAMELESS PLUG TIME**: If you want some KHR-based forum discussion, please head on over to _**Echan1263**_'s forum "_**Just Another Forum**_", where we have threads on things like the manga chapter, in-progress stories and… well, that's all we've got right now, but it would be fun to have some active conversations… please? :D

* * *

Chapter Nine

_GTFO Genius_

The young boy stepped off the airplane and into the terminal, breathing in the foreign air. It was his first time outside of Europe, but that did not matter; he was on a mission of grave importance. Giving his dull, nearly grey, blond hair a run-through with his fingers, he began navigating over towards the baggage claim. Unfortunately for him, there was a watchful security guard on duty who stopped him in his tracks.

"Hey, kid, where's your mom?" the security guard asked with genuine concern in his voice.

"I'm not here with my mom. Please let me get going. I have important things to do and you are making me late."

"Heh, you sure do say funny things for a kid your age. How old are you, anyways?"

"Ten, now leave me be."

"I've got a daughter your age! Her and I almost always seem to get separated from each other when we're out. I'm sure that whoever you're with must be worried sick about you! Come on… let's get you to the Lost and Foun…"

The next thing the security guard knew, he was standing in the men's bathroom—terribly at a loss as to how he got there and with the lost child completely out of sight.

* * *

The boy stood in front of the classroom, a proud look on his face. His future classmates stared at him in wonder, not quite sure whether or not to gawk at the fact he was a transfer student, European or reportedly ten-years-old.

"Class, I would like to introduce to you a new student," the teacher said. "He has come here from Germany to study abroad.

"My name is actually Hans, but you may call me Ryuunosuke," the boy said. He bowed deeply and smiled widely. Most of the girls in the class immediately sighed at his impossibly-high cuteness levels while most of the boys began looking him over as a critical rival. The boy was already good-looking for his age and that situation was only going to become more pronounced as time went on.

"Alright then," the teacher said. "The only spare seat available is right in front of Sawada, so that'll have to do. Now I need to go back to the headmaster's to talk to him about something, so just self-study while I'm gone."

The very second the teacher closed the door, the class began chatting amongst themselves. Hans went and sat down in front of Kiyohiko, immediately turning around all smiles.

"Hi there Eleventh!" he said cheerily. "It's such an honor to finally meet you in person! I'm Hans Elsner and I've come here to be your right-hand man!"

"Wha…?" Kiyohiko gasped, not quite sure how to answer such a claim. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, you know…" Hans said. "Every Vongola boss needs a right-hand man! Well, look no further, 'cause I've come to let you stop your searching and fill the position."

"Oh dear God… who did Dad send now…?" Kiyohiko groaned, allowing his forehead to collide with the desk. "He's just a kid…"

"Hey, I may be just a kid, but I got all the schooling of a high school student!" Hans retorted. "Don't you dare underestimate me!"

"You look familiar… not to mention that your name seems to ring a bell," Haruhi said, bringing her face within centimeters of Hans's. The boy jumped back at the invasion of his personal space and frowned.

"You must be the competition," he pouted. Haruhi giggled and ruffled his hair.

"You're cute," she said. Hans pushed her off and materialized a slingshot out of seemingly nowhere.

"Don't touch me," Hans growled.

"Kid, you gotta treat ladies with a little more respect than that," Masaru said. "If not, then you'll extremely find yourself in the doghouse before you know it."

"I am not here for the ladies, but here to become the Eleventh's Right Hand," Hans muttered, putting the slingshot away and facing forward in his seat. "Get that through your dolt head right now."

"I take that back, since it seems like you're extremely rude all-around," Masaru frowned. Hans smirked smugly in his seat as the teacher came back into the room and class officially went underway.

* * *

It was not long into the day before Masaru was good and ready to punch Hans's lights out. The kid seemed to know every single answer to all the questions before the teachers even asked them. In fact, the only times when Hans did not seem to outshine the rest of the class with his intellect was during Physical Education, where he was the slowest runner in the entire class. Coach even let the kid only run half a mile instead of the full mile the rest of the class went, saying it would be cruel to make him go the entire way.

"I don't like him… not one extreme bit!" Masaru said as he was walking home with Kiyohiko, Haruhi and Damiano. "The kid's too full of himself; he's headed on the right way to having his face shoved in a toilet."

"Now aren't you ready to make the new kid feel welcome…?" Damiano deadpanned. "He's only a kid, you know."

"Well, I think he's cute," Haruhi grinned. "He's like a little class mascot or something like that!"

"I still extremely don't like him," Masaru said. He was about to go on, but was stopped dead in his tracks as they turned the corner onto the street. Hans was sitting right outside the gate to Masaru and Kiyohiko's house, immediately perking up at the sight of the teens.

"Eleventh! There you are! I was looking for you all around after school, but you weren't there, so I thought I would just wait for you here!"

"How do you know where I live…?" Kiyohiko asked, half of him not wanting to even know the answer to that question.

"I told him," Reborn said. The infant hitman appeared on the top of the wall dressed in a rather stereotypical Bavarian outfit complete with lederhosen and a little hat. "Hans is going to become part of your family, Yohi."

"Stop dragging people into this!" Kiyohiko snapped. "Masaru-nii, Haruhi-san, Damiano-san, Saki-san… now Hans-kun? Just stop recruiting people, alright!"

"Oh, Reborn didn't recruit me," Hans said cheerily. "I came here wanting to be your Right Hand; he had nothing to do with it."

"Great… he's willingly insane…" Kiyohiko muttered, walking right past Hans and going straight inside the house. Hana and Haru were sitting in the kitchen chatting when he came in.

"Hey there kid; how was school?" Hana asked.

"Reborn's at it again," the teen muttered. He went towards the refrigerator and began rummaging through for a snack. "Recruited the new kid at school to be in my Family; at this pace the entire class is going to be Mafia by summer vacation."

"LET ME GO!" screamed Hans from the hallway. The rest of the gang meandered into the kitchen, Hans being carried in by Haruhi within the grasp of a huge bear-hug. The kid was squirming and wriggling in a futile attempt to escape.

"Is that the new kid…?" Haru asked in near-disbelief. "He seems a little young."

"Twerp's ten," Masaru frowned. He took the boy from Haruhi and held him up by the collar. "All the way in from Germany, apparently."

"I'm warning you…!" Hans said, grasping around for his slingshot. "Don't underestimate me! I'll knock your block off!"

"Haha! That explains it all!" Hana laughed. "Don't you think the kid looks a bit familiar Haru?"

"Well, yes, but…" Haru was about to continue, but was cut off suddenly by Hana.

"Think of the hair… the temperament… something tells me this kid's not a ten-year-old…"

"No…!"

"Yeah!"

"Hana-san, what are you and Yamamoto-san talking about?"

"Oh, nothing much Yohi-kun," Haru said, patting the teen on the head. "Just some gossip for us old-timers."

"Gotcha!" Hans laughed. He had finally gotten a hold of his slingshot and was able to fling something at Masaru's face. Whatever it was, it exploded on impact and left the young man with a severely charred face.

"What in the…?" Masaru yelped, dropping Hans. He kicked the kid so that he landed on the other side of the kitchen. "That extremely hurt, you little punk!"

"Oh, he must be his kid if that's what he does," Hana observed, her tone emotionless.

"…must be whose kid, Hana-san?" Kiyohiko asked. "What's going on?"

"Yohi, I would like you to get used to the idea that Hans Elsner is going to be in your Family," Reborn said, appearing on the table. Still in his Bavarian outfit, the infant was eating a meal of wurst, kraut and potatoes… as if to rub it all in. "He is most suitable for a position within your Family."

"He's also lying about his age," Hana commented.

"H-H-Hey! Who told you, ya old hag?" Hans snapped. Hana's lip curled into a sneer.

"I figured it out, brat. You're eight… nine at the oldest. Never did keep track, since Gokudera insisted on keeping you away from all the rest of us; why bother?"

"What, you mean Goku-oji…?" Haruhi asked, rather confused. "I didn't know he ever got married."

"Gokudera Hayato is married to the Mafia, but keeps a residence with Daria Elsner in Bavaria," Reborn explained. "She is a self-made business mogul, also 'married' to her work, and Hans is the result of their relationship. Although he was kept away from the Mafia until now at the request of his mother, he now has the schooling of a high school student thanks to his heavy tutoring and powerhouse inherited smarts."

"Mom and Dad gave me a choice to either go to Japan or to stay at home and make the Tenth find someone else, but I would've had to go and work my way up through Mom's company and that doesn't sound even half as fun as the Mafia!" Hans said with a glint in his eye. "I never knew what my dad did for a living and now that I know, I want to be just like him!"

"If Daria-san's your mom, then you must be Goku-oji's son!" Haruhi grinned. "You're as good as my little brother!"

"What are you talking about…?" Hans asked, now the confused one. "You're just an annoying idiot girl."

"Signore Gokudera is Signorina Haruhi's godfather," Damiano explained. He tried to use a calm tone to prevent Hans from going completely ballistic. "Signorina Haruhi figures that is enough reason to find you her younger brother."

"Can we keep him, Mom…? Can we? Please…?" Haruhi begged her mother. Haru was ready to burst into tearful laughter.

"I don't want to stay with you!" Hans barked. "I'll stay with the Eleventh!"

"Not in my house…!" Hana ordered, shivering at the thought of a small child running around everywhere.

"Yeah… our house, not yours!" Masaru frowned, standing next to Hana adamantly. At that, Haruhi swept Hans up in her arms and swung him around in a tight hug.

"That settles it! I've always wanted a little brother!" Haruhi gave the kid an extra squeeze, cracking the kid's vertebrae in the process.

"You're gonna break my ribs… idiot girl!" Hans squeaked. At Damiano's urging, Haruhi let go of Hans. The boy crumpled to the ground in pain.

At that point, Kiyohiko wanted to run up to his room and slam the door behind him… but instead opted for helping Hans along towards the bathroom to make sure nothing serious was damaged.

* * *

**A/N**: I didn't want to give anything away, so I'll say it here. More on Daria Elsner, Hans's mother, can be found in a very long one-shot I posted a while back called Nacht der Aufklärung. It's an attempt at making a strong-willed OC character that is not quite a Mary Sue. Thing is, I can't see Gokudera pairing off with one of the canon girls in the long run… just doesn't seem quite right, no matter how much the Goku/Haru stories are trying to make me waver.

…and you know Gokudera would need to spawn eventually. Somehow, I don't think he buds like Hibari does. XD


	12. Interlude II

**NOTES**: The following chapter is an interlude, like that little Reborn narrative I stuck between chapters four and five (chapter six, numerically) and contains an OC that I established in another one-shot. See the previous chapter's post-story notes for more information. Keep in mind that an interlude is not necessarily in chronological order with the rest of the continuum, nor does it _have_ to be a narrative… although most will be.

Oh, and I'm oftentimes a major ham when writing. I laughed when writing this. XDD

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: Amandy, Charpie, Echan and Oblivious Obscenity

* * *

Interlude II

"Are you sure about this Tsuna-dono?" Basil asked. It was a brisk day for early May as he drove through the unusually rainy streets of Munich, passing by the same road sign for the third time. The man knew where he needed to be, it was just that he was unsure about what sort of reception was going to welcome him. He had Tsuna on his cellular phone, sounding as clear and confident as the day he took over for Timeteo.

"_Yes, I am absolutely certain about this_," the Vongola boss said. "_He is the perfect candidate for the position_."

"Did you at least talk to his parents?"

"_Did my father ask permission from my Guardians' parents_?"

"No…"

"_Just trust me Basil._" Tsuna let out a laugh. "_You've been so jittery since you took over for my dad that you're almost not yourself anymore._"

"I am just worried about Kiyohiko-dono," Basil said, finally pulling over into a parking space. He leaned up against the curve of the steering wheel and sighed. "The two of them have never met before in their lives."

"_So I guess we are going to have to change that. Good luck Basil; I'm counting on you._" Tsuna hung up the phone, leaving Basil alone.

He paused for a moment and looked at the entrance to the high-rise apartment building. The very act of him walking in there was akin to signing his own death certificate in some ways, but it was what Tsuna-dono wanted…

Basil got out of the car and rushed into the building to beat the rain. He headed straight to the elevator and went directly up to the top floor, where he was dumped into a small corridor. He rang the doorbell to the flat and awkwardly awaited an answer as the rain came down upon the overhead skylight.

Almost a minute had passed before Daria Elsner opened the door. Basil knew that it was rare for the business mogul to be visited at her home and was nervous about being potentially kicked out before being allowed to enter. She looked at Basil suspiciously, recognizing him instantly. The years between their meetings had clearly not been numerous enough.

"Herr Basil, it has been a long time," she said, stepping back to let him in. "I hope you are not in a hurry; Hayato took Hans out a while back and I am not quite sure when they'll return."

"I can wait, if that is alright with you Donna Daria," Basil replied. "I do not wish to be a burden."

"Oh, not at all," Daria said as she led Basil to the living room, where there was another skylight that displayed the developing storm overhead. The room was immaculate and designed perfectly, looking more like a film set than someone's actual flat. Basil took a seat on the leather sofa while Daria sat opposite him on an armchair. There was an awkward silence between them before Daria spoke up again.

"Wouldn't it have been easier to call Hayato instead of coming here in person?" she asked. "I would think that the boss's right-hand man could stand to be informed by telephone every once in a while… unless this is something top-secret that is."

"How perceptive of you Donna Daria," Basil smiled.

"I know that although Hayato cherishes the time spent with his son, he is still prone to working while here. What project is so important that he had to drag the CEDEF head out here for?"

"The matter at hand is something that only Tsuna-dono, Don Xanxus and I have been planning without any further knowledge of the other Guardians. I would be highly surprised if Gokudera-dono knew anything of this."

"…if I knew any of what…?" Gokudera asked. Basil and Daria looked at the entrance to the living room to see him standing there looking rather irked. His stonewashed jeans were dark from the rain, his t-shirt was stuck to his body and the shirt he had thrown over the t-shirt was dripping on the carpet. A small boy was half-standing behind him, staring at Basil. The CEDEF head assumed the child was Hans Elsner; he looked similar to Gokudera with his light hair—though cut shorter than his father's—and fashionable appearance. He was only eight, nearly nine, years old, yet Basil knew the boy already had the schooling of most high school students thanks to a combination of private tutors and the smarts inherited from both his parents.

"You sure did return quickly," Basil said. He stood up and began walking towards them.

"Did you two run home?" Daria asked, rather perturbed that her young son was soaked to the skin.

"I was out having a smoke and saw him in his car, so I knew I had to get here as quickly as possible. My car was in the very back of the parking lot though," Gokudera explained sourly, gesturing at Basil. The storm overhead cracked, sending a flash through the room. Hans hid his face in Gokudera's wet shirt.

"Are you scared?" Basil kindly asked Hans, crouching down so that he was eye-level with the boy.

"Who are you?"

"I work with your father," Basil said, putting on a reassuring smile. Hans came out from behind Gokudera and looked the stranger in the face.

"Really?"

"Yeah." Basil reached inside his jacket pocket and began to dig for something. "I brought you something Don Hans." It took only seconds for Gokudera to grab Hans by the shoulder and protectively pull the boy behind his larger frame.

"Not my son," Gokudera said sternly. His eyes narrowed, showing the experience and wear that came with age. "As much as it pains me, I promised Daria I would let him have nothing to do with this."

"Nothing to do with what, Dad?"

"Hans, I think it's almost time for a snack," Daria said, edging over towards the kitchen. She saw the look in Gokudera's eyes meant that Basil was up to something and the best way to handle the possible series of explosions, both figurative and literal, to come was to get her son out of there.

"I want to know what Dad's coworker brought for me!" Hans said excitedly. "Is he another member of the international sector of your company, Mom?"

"Go with your mother," Gokudera snapped at the boy, not taking his eyes off Basil. "Dad has to deal with business right now." The boy refused to move, however, instead watching his father and the strange man exchange words.

"This is beyond you Gokudera-dono," Basil said blankly as he straightened to his full height again.

"I promised Daria!"

"You have no say in this."

"So you intend to make me a liar after all these years?!" Gokudera's nostrils flared in anger; his fingers twitched in anticipation.

"You don't even know what is happening, do you?" Basil asked. Gokudera's eyes narrowed as his voice dropped to a low growl.

"The Eleventh's sixteenth birthday is in a month; I'm not daft."

"Then you realize the importance of my visit."

"He's just a kid."

"Do not think Tsuna-dono has ignored that fact." Basil smiled inwardly as he saw Gokudera's eyes widen in shock. "There is only one candidate Tsuna-dono sees fit and that is Don Hans here. You wouldn't disobey a direct order from Tsuna-dono, would you?"

"Hayato, what is going on?!" Daria demanded. She was growing angrier by the second at not only her lack of understanding, but an alarming sense of helplessness was enveloping her. The foreign emotion, something unbecoming for a businesswoman, was putting her on the edge. "What does he want with Hans?"

"The very thing you and I did our best to prevent," Gokudera replied, his voice lifeless and distant. "It's the Tenth's orders and it seems like we cannot do anything about it."

"Bullshit," Daria hissed. She stomped over and grabbed hold of Hans's wrist. The second she did, Basil pulled a gun from his hidden shoulder holster and pointed it at her forehead.

"An order is an order ma'am," he said. "If there is anyone to hate it is not Gokudera-dono or myself, but the one who made the order. Tsuna-dono decided this shall be done, so I must carry out his will."

Daria looked from the uncharacteristically emotionless Basil to a speechless Gokudera and finally down to her frightened son. Processing the situation, she slowly released her grip on the child's wrist and took a few steps back. Basil returned the gun and knelt down before Hans.

"Do you still want what I brought for you Don Hans?" he asked gently. The boy nodded nervously, too scared to say anything. Basil reached back into his pocket with one hand and took one of Hans's hands in the other. He placed something in the boy's hand and closed it, holding the hand shut so that the boy would look him in the eyes.

"Never lose this," he said. "This is now your life. Follow in the footsteps of all who came before you, including your father, and you shall not fail." Basil let go of Hans's hand and allowed the boy to look at the item he was now holding.

A ring. A _Vongola_ Ring.


	13. Poison Whip

**NOTES**: I hope you cannot tell where I ultimately stopped feeling for this chapter and nearly beat myself to finish the damn thing. Ever have one of those times? Not fun times, indeed. D8 Jeezum crowe I want to get to the next arc.

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: Charpie, KusajishiFuktaicho, the e t e r n a l –STORY, ColinatorGX, Echan and Amandy; you guys are such awesome support.

* * *

Chapter Ten

_Poison Whip_

It had taken a while for everyone to get used to Hans tagging along everywhere they went, but that did not mean that everyone ended up happy over the circumstances. Masaru had fallen into the habit of arguing with Hans at least twice every day. Kiyohiko was less than thrilled about having a small child tag around at all times and after one swift punch to the groin area, Damiano ended up becoming quite wary of the kid. The only one who seemed actually happy about everything was Haruhi, who, true to her word, treated Hans like the younger brother she always wanted. Hans was not pleased with the situation, as she would constantly baby him, but at least waited until either lunchtime on the roof or after school to try exploding the girl to bits.

Finally, a quiet Saturday came. Kiyohiko and Damiano had decided to walk down to the corner to get some sodas and snack foods from the vending machines outside of the corner store. It was nearing lunch time and nothing of much importance had occurred in nearly an entire day.

"I wonder if it was wise to leave them alone like that," Damiano mused as they walked along. He placed his hands behind his head and frowned.

"Reborn's there, so I don't think there should be much of a problem," Kiyohiko sighed. "Besides, if there's a lick of trouble, Hana-san would kick them out in a heartbeat."

"Oh, yeah," Damiano mused. "It's pretty safe having her in the house."

"Pretty safe having who in the house?" asked someone from behind the boys. They both jumped, taken completely by surprise. Turned out it was only Saki, looking happily worn out after what must have been an extensive jog around the town.

"Please don't scare me like that," Kiyohiko sighed. Saki giggled guiltily and allowed him to continue. "We were just going to get some snacks to have before lunch. Haruhi-san and Hans-kun are over at my house with Masaru-nii studying."

"Isn't that kind of dangerous letting those three be alone like that?" Saki asked. "Gokudera-kun doesn't seem to get along with Yama-chan and Sasagawa-kun very well." It took a couple seconds for Kiyohiko to register the name Hans went by in school—Gokudera Ryuunosuke—for the ease of the other students.

"That's why my cousin's stepmom is in the house," Kiyohiko said. They had reached the storefront and Kiyohiko began digging through his pockets for the money he had collected from those still in the house.

"Oh, I remember her…" Saki recalled as the boys fetched their snacks and drinks. "What was her name again…? Kanna-san…?"

"Hana-san," Kiyohiko corrected.

"Right; Hana-san. I only met her once a few years ago, so I'm not that familiar with her, I'm afraid. It was before you came to Japan, Sawada-kun."

"Well, Signora Hana is not exactly the best with children," Damiano said. "I would be surprised if you've met her more than once or twice."

"Then why does that baby follow you around?" Saki asked, searching the contents of her own pocket. She procured a bottle of pop from one of the machines and chugged nearly half of it at once. "I remember him from when we met in the shopping district; he wore a little suit and had black hair like Hana-san does. Is he Sasagawa-kun's little brother?"

"No, nothing like that," Kiyohiko grumbled. He quickly decided to change the subject to avoid further Mafia-related questions for the time being. "Would you like to come back with us, Saki-san? We've got a solid study group going and I think we've got a few extra supplies to share."

"As long as you haven't hit History yet!" Saki grinned.

As the three began to walk back towards the house, Kiyohiko could feel that something was amiss. It felt as if someone was tailing them. The young Vongola kept on glancing over his shoulder, trying to catch whoever it was in the act.

"What's the matter, Don Yohi?" Damiano asked. "Is everything alright?"

"You know that feeling you get when your sister is following you simply to make you freak out and think there's someone coming to kill you?" Kiyohiko whispered, careful not to let Saki hear.

"Yeah… but she usually does try to kill me…"

"Well, I'm totally getting those vibes right now." Damiano looked behind them and shrugged at the normality of the street. It did not take much longer for the trio to reach the Sasagawa-Kurokawa-Sawada residence, at which point the eerie vibe Kiyohiko was feeling ceased.

"Well, that was anti-climactic…" he said as he put his key in the door. He opened the door and they walked in, only to have the lights not work. While Kiyohiko was attempting to jiggle the switch in order for the light to work in the otherwise dark staircase (as it was one of the casual quirks of the house), the sound of a bullwhip cracked through the air and made everyone freeze in their places.

"Do not move!" shouted a voice. There was a shadowy figure looming at the top of the staircase, giving off an almost-evil aura. "State your names or you shall find your lives forfeit."

_Wait a second…_ Kiyohiko thought. _I know that voice!_

"Rosario-nee! Please come down from there! It's just Damiano-san and me."

The figure slid down the railing to the landing, revealing her identity. With her long lavender-pink hair, grey eyes and confident grin, Damiano and Kiyohiko had no problem recognizing Rosario Chiavorone. The twenty-year-old woman was all decked out in an outfit that looked like it was pulled from a 1930's action movie serial: tan slacks, a white button-up shirt, suspenders, brown jacket and a matching fedora.

"It's way too dark in here for me to see properly," Rosario said, coiling up her whip. "I was just going up to get you so that you could fix the light."

"What are you doing here Rosario-nee?" Kiyohiko asked. "Did you get kicked out of the Varia for not being insane enough?"

"Oh, no, not at all. Then who would go on the missions that involved actually functioning like a human being?" Rosario smiled. She looked over at Saki and cocked her head to the side. "Who's this?"

"Takizawa Saki," Saki replied with a little bow. She did not take her eyes off of Rosario, however, curious about the foreigner's appearance.

"Pleased to meet you! I'm Rosario Chiavorone! Yohi here and I are cousins!"

"Cousins…?"

"What she means to say is that Don Yohi's father and her father are as close as brothers!" Damiano cut in, stepping between Rosario and Saki. "It's nothing, really!"

"Rosario-nee, where's Hana-san?" Kiyohiko asked.

"Oh, she stepped out of the house a while back," the Italian woman replied, now going up the stairs in a relaxed manner. "I must have just missed you going out, or I would have just tailed you instead. There's someone after you, apparently."

"Someone's after Sawada-kun?" Saki asked as they headed up the stairs. "Kind of like when I-Pin-san was here?"

"Yeah," Rosario nodded. "I'm part of an elite team of people that get to make sure nothing like that happens to Yohi, amongst other things. I'm the normal one."

"That's saying something," Kiyohiko muttered to himself as he walked into his room. He was greeted with the sight of Haruhi curled up on his bed sleeping, Masaru and Hans were wrestling to the extreme death and Reborn sitting on the table calmly, adorned with a long-haired wig and a dress.

"Ah, I see the Poison Whip is here," Reborn said. Rosario's eyes lit up upon seeing the infant hitman.

"Zio Reborn! It's so good to see you again! I haven't seen you since you finished training Andrea!" Kiyohiko opened his mouth to contest why Rosario was calling an infant "uncle", yet wisely decided against it and simply envied Haruhi for being able to sleep through all the commotion.

"You look well, Rosario. Have you met your cousin Hans?"

Rosario blinked.

"Hans…?" She looked over at the scuffle and saw the German boy pinned in a full nelson hold by Masaru. Tilting her head so that she could see his upside-down face slightly clearer, Rosario chuckled lightly. "So Zio Hayato finally convinced his mother to let him go, hm? I haven't seen the kid in ages."

"Wait a second—I thought that Signore Gokudera kept the Mafia from coming around his son until he showed up here," Damiano mentioned. "How did you get to see him?"

"I spent a few months in Bavaria for school and Zia Daria let me stay with her and Hans. I doubt he was more than two at the time. That was probably around the same time your mom and those psychos she hangs around—no offense—went to stay in Quebec for a spell."

"None taken; why do you think I'm here?"

"Er… Sawada-kun…?" Saki said nervously, glancing over one of the open textbooks spread across the table. "These lessons won't be in class for another two weeks."

"It never hurts to be ahead," Reborn said. "You should probably join us for these sessions more often."

"No thank you," Saki said politely. "My homework routine is fairly regular and I get excellent grades, so I don't think it would be wise to change anything."

"Are you sure?" Reborn asked, pulling out his gun and pointing it at the dark-haired girl.

"I'm sure," Saki said a little shakily.

"Reborn! Leave her alone!" Kiyohiko yelped, his voice cracking. While he leapt over to wedge himself between Reborn and Saki, Rosario sped past Damiano and wrenched Hans from Masaru's grasp in order to squeeze her cousin tightly.

"Gah! What the…!?" the boy sputtered. "Who in the hell are you!?"

"Don't you recognize even your own cousin…?" Rosario pouted, swinging the boy back and forth. "I know I look more like Zio Dino instead of Zia Bianchi, but that doesn't mean you should just forget I even exist! Where's the love in that?" Hans's legs dangled in the air as Bianchi twirled around.

"…and she's the normal one?" Saki whispered to Kiyohiko and Damiano. Not even a second passed before Saki was then tackled from behind; Haruhi had woken up and was ready to get in on the roughhousing. Saki easily threw her friend off and stood up only to have Masaru right in her face.

"Wanna go spar?" he asked. "I heard that you're studying some extreme martial arts."

"Eh, why not?" Saki shrugged. "You ready for a world of pain?"

"I'm not done with you, dunderhead!" Hans shouted as Masaru and Saki went for the hallway. He wriggled out of Rosario's grip and bolted after them. Haruhi ended up running off not too far behind, shouting for Hans to behave, which triggered Damiano headed after Haruhi so that she would behave in turn. Before Kiyohiko knew it, it was just him, Reborn and Rosario left.

"I take it you have some news for us, Poison Whip Rosario," Reborn said. "You would not have come unless it was so."

"It's dire, Zio Reborn," Rosario said, kneeling down so that she was level with Reborn. "Yohi and his friends are in danger."

"What kind of danger?" Kiyohiko asked, sitting down at the low table. "Should they be going outside?"

"No, not that kind of danger," Rosario said. "I'm not allowed to tell you details, but it will end up putting me in a very awkward position if things go the way I'm thinking they will."

"What are you talking about Rosario-nee?" Kiyohiko asked. "Is something wrong back home?"

"Not exactly; Vongola family tradition is starting up again, is all. I need you to watch your back, Yohi. Fausto is going to have me do terrible things in the name of the Varia and I'm not sure if I will be able to carry out his orders. The least I can do is to warn you: do not be caught off-guard. The coming danger has the potential to kill you."

"Fausto doesn't know that you're here, does he?" Kiyohiko asked. He thought about the Varia's up-and-coming young commander—Fausto Esposito—and the wrath that might ensue should he find out Rosario Chiavorone did anything against his wishes. They had been together since they were small; he was the brazen boy aiming for his father Xanxus's seat at the top of the Varia while she was the devoted right-hand that supported him every step of the way.

"This is treason," Reborn said. Rosario panicked.

"Oh no, no, no!" she said, waving about her hands in defense. "The direct purpose of the Varia is to be elite hitmen and warriors sworn to the Vongola! If this is treason, then I would hate to hear what you would call what is going to happen!"

"What's going to happen, Rosario-nee?!" Kiyohiko asked forcefully. He slammed his hands on the table and looked her directly in the eyes. "Since I seem to have no choice to become the Vongola Undicesimo, then you might as well treat me like it; tell me what is going to happen and that's an order."

"You seem to be growing into your role well," Reborn noted with a grin. "Two months ago and you would not have even thought those words."

"Right now, there are five of my friends and classmates out on the lawn doing who knows what. They are my friends and I want nothing bad to happen to them—_ever_. If I'm going to face this Mafia thing head-on, I want to at least be able to protect them."

"You're a good kid," Rosario smiled. "You're going to make a great Vongola boss someday. I would tell you what is going on, I really would, but I have been sworn to secrecy by forces higher than us. Please keep on the lookout."

"I will then," Kiyohiko said. It was just then when the occupants of the room heard a loud slam of the door and a set of angry feet stomp up the stairs.

"What in the hell is going on out there?!" Hana growled as she burst into the room. "Masaru, Haruhi and Hans are fighting to the death and some girl is trying to get Damiano to stop crying. There's so much commotion going on that I couldn't get a word in edgewise! Oh, hi Rosario; how's Bianchi?"

"Doing fine, Hana!"

"Kiyohiko, what is going on?"

"The girl with Damiano is Saki; she's a classmate of ours. She and Masaru were going to spar, but I guess things just fell into their normal routine again," the teen sighed. "It's no big deal."

"Alright… just as long as I don't get some angry parent knocking on the door giving me crap."

"Yes, ma'am." With that, Hana left the room grumbling.

"Yohi, do you think it would be alright if I stayed for dinner?" Rosario asked. "Hana looks kind of angry right now…"

"You can stay," Kiyohiko said with a smiling sigh.

"Good, 'cause I'm low on money and I can't cook to save my life!"

"The daughter of the Poison Scorpion is unable to cook?" Reborn pondered. Kiyohiko was taken aback, as the infant sounded genuinely confused.

"Usually my brother or one of the other Varia members cooks; I'm no good." Rosario mimed an explosion for effect.

"Then by all means stay as long as you need to," Reborn said. An actual explosion from out in the yard made Rosario and Kiyohiko both jump, but not as much as the angered yawp that came from Hana's mouth a few moments later.

It was agreed upon that the woman could have been heard in Italy.

* * *

**A/N**: I need more people on the Dino/Bianchi boat. It's such a fun ship to party on.


	14. Let's Not Go to Candy Mountain

NOTES: I apologize for the late update. I have not abandoned the story quite yet; I've just been on a Mystery Science Theater 3000/Hetalia: Axis Powers kick and it was all I could really think about as far as fan-tard-ing. I'm back though… and just in time for classes to start up again. D: I'm not in top form at the moment, so please forgive me if this chapter feels a little different than those in the past. I also just quickly self-beta-ed this, so I'm sure there shall be mistakes.

REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS: Charpie, Amandy, Echan, ColinatorGX, TenchiSaWaDa and A Midsummer Night's Dream! Thanks for sticking with me everyone!

* * *

Chapter Eleven

_Let's Not Go to Candy Mountain_

It was a tolerably nice day as Hans woke up. The child happily dressed himself and gathered his things for school. Running down the stairs, he found that his hostess—Yamamoto Haru—was already in the kitchen, as usual, ready to hand him his lunchbox and breakfast for the day.

"Have you seen Haruhi at all?" Haru asked as the boy wolfed down some cereal.

"Nope. For all I know, she's still in bed."

"Hahi! I swear! That girl wouldn't amount to a thing if I weren't there to kick her into gear!"

"Maaa… relax Haru," Takeshi yawned as he sleepily shuffled into the kitchen. He ruffled Hans's hair and snatched an apple from the bowl on the table. "She always makes it in the end, right Hans-kun?"

"Well, she certainly could fool me," the boy frowned. Takeshi had come home a few nights beforehand and had been staying up late with his daughter for swordsmanship training. It bothered Hans to no end, as the only result he seemed to be noticing was that Haruhi was less and less likely to be punctual and functional and more lackadaisically carefree when he felt she should not be. That and Takeshi seemed to take joy out of embarrassing the hell out of him.

"You really are Gokudera-kun's son, aren't 'cha?" the man grinned. He went and gave Haru a quick kiss on the cheek before biting into his apple and opening the refrigerator. "So, you kids have school today?"

"Yeah, and I'm going to be late if that idiot girl doesn't get a move on!" Hans said exasperatedly. "Actually, I think I'm going to head out without her."

"I would advise against that…" Takeshi teased in a sing-song voice. "You know she's just going to harass you about it for the rest of the day."

"Like I care," Hans grumbled as he finished his cereal. Not wanting to continue the conversation any longer, he grabbed his bag and stormed out of the house.

_No wonder Mom and Dad kept me away from them_, Hans thought as he walked down the alleyway. _Idiots—the whole lot of them. Then again, idiots only breed more idiots._

Hans walked along merrily after that, keeping his thoughts fixated on the day ahead. The group was going to have a study session after school, meaning he could flex his intellect yet again to prove to the Eleventh that he was worthy of being his right-hand man. Sure, he was fairly disadvantaged by the age gap between him and the Idiot Squad, but that never stopped Hans before. He was sure that he could dismiss any sort of disadvantage he could have as long as he worked hard. The boy knew that hard work was what helped his mother become one of the richest women in Germany and made his father into one of the most important men in the Vongola Family, so it must be able to help him along as well.

Suddenly, Hans stopped walking. He could feel the presence of someone behind him. Attempting to stay calm, he kept on walking for a pace and then quickly spun around. There was a bit of a high-pitched squeaking noise, but not a soul was in sight. He turned back around and walked some more, only to hear footsteps coming up behind him. He spun around and readied his slingshot, but still—nothing was there. The boy leapt forward to start running but crashed into something, sending him toppling to the ground.

"What the…?" he gasped, realizing there was something now underneath him. He couldn't see anything, however, except for the cement centimeters below him.

"GET OFF!" screamed a voice. Hans jumped back in shock and a girl about his age appeared, coming into focus like a cheap, wavy flashback effect. She had brown pigtails high on her head and was dressed in pink and white, skirt, shirt, shoes and all, and was looking highly flustered.

"What did you do that for!" she snapped, voice squeaking.

"There was nothing there!" Hans retorted.

"Annje was there!"

"Well, I certainly couldn't see you!"

"Really? You mean you really couldn't see Annje…?" the girl asked with a little more enthusiasm than Hans was comfortable with.

"I could have sworn I was the only other human being in this alleyway…" Hans frowned. "Are you an idiot or what?"

"No…! …but this is really good! Annje can't believe you didn't see her!" With that, the girl called Annje sprung up to her feet and dashed off around the corner.

"What in the heck was that all about…?" Hans whispered aloud to himself. It took only a moment for him to snap out of his confusion and take off in a sprint. "Oh no! The Eleventh is probably wondering where I am! I was supposed to be at his house one minute and fifty-seven seconds ago! I have to hurry so he isn't stuck walking with that idiot cousin of his to school!"

* * *

"So what you're saying is that a girl you've never seen before was tailing you this morning?" Kiyohiko asked as he and Hans walked through the halls of Namimori High. Haruhi, Damiano and Masaru had already rushed ahead to make sure the roof was cleared for lunch, leaving the foreign boy alone with their Boss.

"Yeah. I didn't want to tell you earlier, since I thought it was nothing, but after thinking about it, I thought I should let you know. I mean, what if she's up to something?"

"You said she looked about your age?"

"That she did! That and she spoke Japanese kind of funny, like she wasn't much used to foreign languages. I couldn't make out exactly what kind of accent she had, but it was definitely European."

"Great, so there's another one of you wandering around?" Kiyohiko groaned as he opened the door to the stairway. "Why can't you kids be kids for a while?"

"Duty comes before pleasure," Hans said, his voice echoing a phrase Kiyohiko had heard Gokudera Hayato say many a time before. It was obvious to the teenager that neither the Storm Guardian nor Ms. Elsner ever talked to Hans like he was a child. Those were things a technical-grade school kid should not really say.

Hans jumped in front of Kiyohiko once they reached the top of the stairs. The child burst out from behind the door and glanced around suspiciously. Only the regular crowd was there; they paid no attention to Hans. Haruhi was attempting to educate Damiano on the finer points of the differences between the Japanese baseball leagues while the half-Japanese was doing his best to feign knowledge of the sport. Masaru and Saki were throwing a mock battle a few meters away, the latter showing a scarily quick pace of improvement due to the way Masaru was clearly half-improvising his battle strategy.

"Oh, there you are Don Yohi!" Damiano said cheerily, cutting the conversation with Haruhi short. "It was taking so long for you to come up I was beginning to worry!"

"No… I just had to put some books in my locker before coming up," Kiyohiko said as he and Hans sat down. "Reborn's got me reading a bunch of novels lately; I'm currently on Puzo's works."

"Speaking of Reborn-kun, I haven't seen him lately," Haruhi mentioned. "Did Hana-san ground him?"

"No…" Kiyohiko groaned. Hana-san couldn't ground Reborn, even if she tried.

"I actually talked with the Giallo Arcobaleno last night," Damiano noted. "He drops in on me every so often, which is annoying after a while. I guess he likes to keep tabs on the Vongola Guardians during the training periods. Mom told me a little while ago that he was always stopping by Kokuyo while Don Tsuna was still in school."

"You tend to drop your voice when you talk about Reborn," Hans said, blankly staring at Damiano. "Why is that?"

"I'll tell you in a few years," Damiano muttered, blushing slightly and shooting Haruhi a quick glance through the corners of his eyes. Haruhi did not notice, however, since she was engaged in inhaling the contents of her bento.

Kiyohiko quickly changed the subject to the morning lessons and attempted to bask in the normality of the lunch hour. He knew that once he got home after school, Reborn was going to be shooting at him and causing a commotion, so he had to enjoy the quiet while it lasted.

Masaru and Saki had just sat down from their spar (which had been decided at a draw) when Hans fell eerily silent. The boy crouched down and listened intently, which eventually caught the attention of his classmates. Everyone quieted as the little foreign boy darted over by Masaru's side, acting as if he was hiding.

"What are you doing, brat?" Masaru grumbled, looking over his shoulder. There was no one there, so he let out a disapproving scoff. "You're being extremely weird, even for yourself."

"There's someone there…" Hans whispered hoarsely. Haruhi leaned over towards Damiano and looked at the immediate area behind Masaru, only to break out into laughter.

"What are you doing out of school?" she asked the empty air. Everyone else looked in the direction Haruhi was giggling at, then back at Haruhi and back to the empty space again.

"I don't know what you're talking about Signorina Ha…" Damiano said before trailing off. He blinked a few times at the suspect space and then jumped. "_Merda_! What in the world…?" He leapt to his feet and produced a sharpened boomerang from his jacket pocket, pointing it just behind where Masaru's head was. His voice dropped into a firm tone and his eyes narrowed.

"Don't move."

"What are you doing?" Masaru snapped. "The only one in this direction is me!"

"…and that is where you are wrong, Masaru," Reborn's voice rang from nowhere. The rest of the teenagers froze, having thought they were the only ones on the roof. The infant materialized in the middle of their circle, dressed in the black garb of a traditional ninja and holding a shiny metal device that looked vaguely like a baby-sized remote control.

"I thought being the Arcobaleno of the Yellow Pacifier meant you can't use illusions!" Kiyohiko groaned. "How'd you manage this?"

"Verde has recently created a device that can feign illusions," Reborn said frankly. Saki opened her mouth to ask whom he was talking about, but was cut off. "I am not the only one who has rudimentary illusionist abilities on this roof."

"Now that's not true you stupidhead! I'm a good illusionist!" a squeaky voice shouted from the same direction Damiano's boomerang was still trained on. The voice gasped in surprise and there was the distinct sound of little feet running. Damiano threw the boomerang and a high-pitched scream pierced the air as the blade lodged itself in the rooftop. In the same wavy-fade-in as before, the girl from the alleyway came into focus as she sat in horror on the rooftop. Damiano's boomerang was in the space between her feet, making the girl a wide-eyed, trembling mess.

"Woah… how'd you do that, Gaijin-chan…?" Saki asked, flabbergasted. First Reborn materialized out of nowhere, and now a small foreign girl did the same… it certainly was becoming quite the lunch period.

"You!" Hans shouted, jumping up and pointing at the girl. "I knew you were trouble from the moment I saw you! Eleventh, this is the girl I saw this morning!"

"Ah, jeez…" Kiyohiko groaned, slapping his hands to his face. Masaru, however, walked right up to the girl and held her up by the collar so that she was eye-level with him.

"What kind of a brat's going around using Mist Illusions?" he asked, staring sternly at the wriggling girl. "Now I know why Hana-san doesn't like kids as much as she does."

"You let go of Annje!" the girl shouted. "Annje's the fourth-most promising assassin for her age! Annje's gonna kick your fanny!"

"Kick my… fanny." Masaru's tone was unimpressively flat. "Kid, I can kick you from here to Shibuya without breaking a sweat. Shut up."

"You may have foiled Annje's plan, but there shall always be next time, Cotton Head!" the girl whined. She reached into her pocket and pulled out an indigo-colored box. Once she reached for a chain that was around her neck, Masaru dropped her and backed away.

"The kid's got a Mist Box!" he yelled. Haruhi and Damiano immediately leapt to their feet and rushed to stand in front of Kiyohiko, Saki and Hans.

"Sawada-kun, what's going on?" Saki asked. "What's so bad about that box?"

"To make a long story short: that girl's got Mafia training," Kiyohiko explained, shifting so that he was in front of Saki and Hans. The last thing he wanted was for a Box Weapon User to get out of hand while in the presence of two individuals clearly inexperienced with the concept… particularly if the Box was of a Mist Attribute.

"Come! Gerardus!" the girl yelled. The ring looped onto her necklace lit up with an indigo flame and she inserted the Flame into the Box. It opened and a swirl of Mist Flames burst out and converged into a dastardly-looking lump between the girl and Masaru. The Flames twirled and twisted and began to finally take shape until the Box Animal was concrete… and forcing all on the roof but Reborn, Saki and the girl to stop themselves from bursting into laughter.

There, standing on Namimori High's rooftop, was a deeply-colored indigo Shetland Pony, no taller than the little Mist-attributed girl's shoulders, with a singular horn growing from its forehead. Annje hopped upon it and did her very best to look menacing.

"Annje shall get you one day, Vongola!" she cried out before allowing the horse to slowly canter away. Those who were left dropped down on the rooftop and howled with laughter sans Saki and Reborn.

"I don't get it," the teenager informed the hitman. "What was that?"

"That, aside from being pathetic, was the fourth-most superior hitman of her age grouping," Reborn explained. "She was using Mafia technology, albeit poorly, in an attempt to intimidate us."

"So that's what the purple-ish pony was?"

"Yeah… in a way…" Damiano said, wiping some tears from his eyes. "Many people who are in the Mafia and can fight have things called Flames and each color of the rainbow corresponds with a component of the weather. The rarest would be Don Yohi's orange Sky Attribute, which is mainly is found in the heads of certain Mafia families and is even rarer otherwise. My mom and sister are aligned with the indigo Mist Flames, like that girl was."

"Flames…?"

"My dad explained it to me as fighting spirit!" Masaru said cheerily.

"Cool!" Saki said. The bell then stopped her short, signaling that lunch, although exciting, was now over. Kiyohiko rushed everyone to leave and moreover, never speak of what had transpired to anyone else.

* * *

The next morning, Hans was walking cheerily along the road, coming to a stop in front of the Sasagawa-Kurokawa-Sawada Residence. He waited patiently until Masaru and Kiyohiko emerged. Both teens were sleepy-eyed and clearly not ready to start the day.

"What's the matter with you two?" Hans asked as they walked towards the corner. "You look like you were up all night, Eleventh!"

"We were," Masaru grumbled. "After we told Dad that there was this little Mist Brat 'bout your age running around, he flipped out and didn't let us get any sleep."

"Yeah. We need to invest in some earplugs like Hana-san has," Kiyohiko added. The three reached the corner and were met by Haruhi and Damiano.

"Morning!" Haruhi said happily. "Hans-kun, why didn't you wait for me before leaving the house earlier?"

"I needed to be at my post and greet the Eleventh," the child said, adding an air of superiority to his voice. "While you were sleeping, I was doing the duties of a Right Hand Man!"

"Don't hurt yourself, kid," Masaru said, grinding his fist into Hans's skull.

"Well, guess what!" Haruhi smiled. "That girl from yesterday…"

"Annje? What about her?" Kiyohiko asked.

"She's not so bad after all!" Haruhi said. She stepped aside and revealed that the little girl who had confronted them on the roof of the high school the day prior was standing there wearing a pink-and-white track suit, a backpack across her back and Reborn sitting atop her head. Kiyohiko and Hans both jumped back in shock.

"R-R-Reborn, you idiot! What's she doing here?"

"Annje here may be the fourth-most promising assassin for her age, but she still has much to learn, so I invited her to stay and train here," Reborn said. "She lives with a most excellent tutor now."

"Just because my crazy sister is a prodigy Mist Attribute doesn't mean I'm willing to babysit the _bambina_," Damiano grumbled. He clearly appeared to have lost copious amounts of sleep the night before, most likely preparing a room for the child.

"Well, Namimori High isn't big enough for the two of us!" Hans protested.

"That's why Annje is going to elementary, which is where you belong too…" the girl said, trying not to make eye contact with Hans. The boy tried to look her in the eyes, but she kept on dodging and finally ran away, Hans right behind her.

"Fuuta made that prediction waiting out a hurricane, you know," Reborn said from his new perch atop Kiyohiko's head.

"More like the assassin most likely to turn colors then?" Masaru grumbled, just as annoyed as Damiano that the girl was now staying.

"Do not be too critical," Reborn scolded. "There are not many in her age grouping who are assassins, after all."

* * *

A/N: Extra-long chapter just for putting up with me, guys! :D Oh, and Mario Puzo wrote The Godfather. Yeah. Heh. Unicorn. XD Also, bambina = girl-child in Italian. Those of you who have read more of my KHR one-shots with interaction between Hayato and Haruhi have seen me use " 'bina", which is the shortened version… I think.


	15. If You Can Dodge A Ball

**NOTES**: In this chapter, I exercise my thoughts on the game of dodgeball. If that particular game gets a ban because some weenies can't just quickly get their arm hit and sit out quietly, then I will be a very angry Nehs. I made it as a freakin' kamikaze, getting balls in no-man's land and being a general distraction. I _**enjoyed**_ being a throw-away player, as it was necessary. Anyone who feels otherwise about the glorious game can shove it thankyouverymuch. D: Pansies; you're missing out.

Oh, and yeah… I realized a little too late that Mist Flames are indigo instead of violet. I blame the dudes who coordinated the rainbow colors and made up a dark blue for the hell of it. D: Told you there would be mistakes.

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: Charpie, EChan, ColinatorGX, Amandy-san, JVIomo, the Red King, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Oblivious Obscenity! Thanks for the encouragement, everyone! I surely needed it.

* * *

Chapter Twelve

_If You Can Dodge A Ball_

"We're going to have a school-wide tournament a week from today," the teacher told the class that Friday. It was in the final moments of class, when he normally would have allowed for quiet study. "The principal decided that you lot were too lazy and has decreed that there shall be a competition between the grades to see who has the best dodgeball team."

"Isn't the concept of dodgeball _**inhumane**_?" asked one of the girls.

"Nonsense," the teacher said. "Do not believe all the griping you tend to hear from the parents of whiny crybabies who would rather sit on the sidelines and do nothing for an A. Dodgeball is a very fun thing to participate in and not everyone has to participate if they don't want to. Our class does have to be represented by a team though, so I am expecting at least a handful to step up to the plate and bite the bullet for the team. I need a minimum of six people for the team, so speak up!"

The entire class was silent. After a minute of awkward glances and uncomfortable waiting, a predictable voice rang out.

"I'll play!" Haruhi said happily. She was no surprise, and most of the class was simply shocked she had not volunteered sooner.

"Me too!" Saki chimed in.

"So Yamamoto-san and Takizawa-san," the teacher muttered as he wrote their names down on the board. "Come on boys… are you all fine with being shown up by a couple of girls?"

"Not me!" Hans snapped, standing nearly upright in his seat.

"…and I'm not being overdone by a brat," Masaru muttered, raising his hand as he glared at Hans. The young boy stuck his tongue out at the teen, who subsequently snarled silently back.

"Then if Gokudera-kun and Sasagawa-kun are in, and there are no other willing participants, would you be so kind as to fill in Dokuro-kun and Sawada-kun?"

"Pardon me, Sensei, but why us?" Kiyohiko asked. "I am the worst in the class after Gokudera-kun in P.E. and would only weigh the team down; while Dokuro-kun is pretty good at sports, he never volunteered."

"You two work best with those who volunteered," the teacher said in an as-a-matter-of-factly tone. "There are roles in the team that anyone can fill, even those without any athletic prowess."

The bell rang and the class began to shuffle out. Kiyohiko went up to the teacher at his desk and waited until the rest of his classmates had left.

"Please Sensei… I don't want to participate in this," he said.

"As far as I know, you have no medical conditions preventing you," the teacher said. "Class 1-C is not going to be underrepresented just because no one feels like it. All you have to do is get a light tap with the ball early on and you'll be fine."

"…but I don't want to, is the problem," Kiyohiko retorted. The teacher sighed and looked his student in the eyes.

"No offense, Sawada-kun, but this is Japan. I know you grew up in Europe and they do things differently there, but here in Japan we do things for the good of the group… even if we don't enjoy these things. You should probably try practicing over the weekend. I spoke with your personal trainer the other day and he says he's been attempting to whip you up into shape, so I feel no qualms over this."

"I don't have a personal trainer," Kiyohiko said plainly.

"Reboyama-san," the teacher said. "Short fellow, spiked hair, slight accent…"

"Oh… _him_," Kiyohiko frowned. "That's more of a disillusioned houseguest than a personal trainer."

"Either way, the exercise and group bonding will be good for you. Now have a good weekend, Sawada-kun." With that, the teacher was finished packing up and left the classroom, leaving a rather perturbed Kiyohiko to his own devices.

* * *

"You talked to my teachers?" Kiyohiko screamed at Reborn, who was pensively having a cup of tea with Leon on the study table. "Why can't you stop interfering with the normal parts of my life?" The teenager had only been home long enough to change into some more comfortable blue jeans and a t-shirt before he began berating the infant hitman.

"I do not interfere where I am not required," Reborn stated, a glazed-over look on his face. "I mentioned nothing of the Mafia and was under the guise of a personal trainer. He suspects nothing."

"That still doesn't give you the right to meddle with my teachers! The dodgeball tournament was your idea too, wasn't it?"

"I have no idea as to what you are talking about, Yohi," Reborn said. "I merely informed the current principal of Namimori that you are in need of some intense training and it might help if some was under the guise of a school-wide tournament of sorts."

"You little blackmailer!"

"Hey, you coming Little Cousin?" Masaru asked, poking his head in the door. "Everyone's got to be over at the park by now."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Just let me finish scolding the brat," Kiyohiko growled. Masaru took hold of his cousin's arm and dragged him along anyways.

"Stop yelling at Reborn," Masaru ordered once they were finally out of the house. "You've become extremely moody since he showed up."

"Can you blame me?"

"No, but it's really no way to act. What if your mom and dad saw you acting like this? What would they say?"

"I don't want to hear about them right now."

"See… that's your problem: you're an extreme grump. Dad said that everyone had tons of fun when Reborn was training your dad…"

"Yeah, and they were almost killed multiple times and dragged my mom and Haruhi-san's mom into it all. How many times do you think they were almost killed in the line of fire?"

"At least seventy to my memory."

"…and that's all they decided to tell us." Kiyohiko angrily kicked a discarded tin can that was lying in the middle of the alleyway. "There's a reason why I moved to Japan and it's crumbling before my very eyes. Don't you know how it feels to watch something unfold and be totally powerless to stop it?"

"A couple times, when I was extremely little."

"Well, that's how I feel now. It's enough to make anyone get moody."

"Now that's not the Little Cousin I know and love," Masaru grinned. "I think you're in an extremely better situation than Tsuna-oji. He never knew anything about the Mafia until it was too late. You've always known and most of us have known as well. Yeah Saki-chan and Goku-oji's brat didn't know and Haruhi-chan is reverting to thinking it's a game, but it's not like they're extremely helpless. I bet they'll be part of your Guardians one of these days."

"I don't want them to though. I want them to live out normal, happy lives."

"You forgot that this is normal for us and makes us happy. Stop being so selfish, Yohi."

Kiyohiko looked at his older cousin to see a goofy smile on his face, one that echoed his Uncle Ryohei to the tee. The young Vongola chuckled and gave a wan smile himself.

"So… then you think you've got my Guardians all figured out?" he asked.

"Well of course! I'm Sun, Haruhi-chan's Rain, Damiano's Mist, Hans has to be Storm, I'm pretty sure Saki is Thunder and… hmm… I don't know who we know that could be of a Cloud Attribute other than Hibari… and I don't want to go near him as long as I can help it, so we probably haven't met your Cloud Guardian yet."

"Why is Damiano-kun Mist? I've never seen him use an illusion. The only person I've seen using a Mist illusion recently has been Annje-chan, and she's eight."

"So is Hans. Lambo-nii was only five when he was chosen, so I guess we can't count out the squirts no matter how annoying they are."

"Hey! Yohi-kun! Masaru-kun!" called out Haruhi, signaling to the boys that they had arrived at the park. The surrounding area seemed deserted, which both pleased Kiyohiko and made him feel uneasy. Haruhi was already waiting with Damiano and Saki on one of the park's benches, with Hans and Annje shouting at one another in German a few meters away.

"What's with them?" Masaru asked, pointing at the children.

"Gokudera-kun found out that Annje-chan's from the Netherlands and is now calling her… a…" Saki began. She paused and listened to the shouting a little more closely before nodding. "…either he's saying she's '_a drunken cycling nut cursed with cheese-breath_' or she's '_a punk and Viking nut that's a wurst's peas' breadth_'. She's coming back with some bad poorly-translated colloquialisms that I can't make out, but assume have something to do with Nazis and Bavarian oompah bands. Either way, it's not sounding happy."

"I did not know you spoke German," Reborn said, appearing suddenly on the bench next to Saki. He was dressed in a military uniform, complete with a sword and general's stars on the shoulders.

"Oh, I'm not very good!" Saki laughed, ignoring the suddenness of the hitman's entrance. "I've picked up a couple key words thanks to my mom loving foreign cinema. I've been watching subtitled movies from Europe since I was little. It would be the same as a German watching anime and understanding a little Japanese because of it."

"Then your predisposition towards foreign language shall be one of your greater assets," Reborn said. He hopped off the bench and paced in front of the teenagers. "Now, in one week, you have to be ready to represent Freshman class C at the Namimori Dodgeball Tournament. It looks like you have an extra body in the ranks."

"She refused to let me come without her," Damiano sulked. "The _bambina_ is really getting on my nerves."

"Hmm… either way, she can join the opposing team once they arrive," Reborn mused. "You all must gather over there, in that patch of grass. Go on, before I shoot you all to death."

The teens obeyed and walked over to the far side of the field, dragging Hans with them. They turned around to see Annje still standing near the bench, whilst Reborn was roughly between them.

"Why'd you guys abandon Annje?" the girl half-sobbed, a hurt look on her face.

"Aw, come off it you sissy!" Hans yelled across the field.

"You stupid boy!" Annje cried. She dropped down to the grass and began to cry.

"Ah, jeez…" Hans groaned, slapping his forehead with his palm. "I can't believe that she's the same age as me."

"Why… because she acts her age?" Kiyohiko asked. He glared at the boy, who glared back, until they caught something out of the corner of their eyes.

"Awww… are they being mean to you?" Annje looked up and saw Rosario staring down at her.

"Mmmhmm…" the girl whined.

"What are you doing here Rosario-nee?" Haruhi called down the field.

"Zio Reborn called in a favor to the Varia," Rosario replied. "The Varia has been requested to assist in the training of the Undicesimo. Although this is a non-combat situation, the percentage of success is incredibly high and I would be a horrible subordinate for Leader if I did not take such a simple request."

Suddenly, about a dozen camouflage-clad men emerged from some nearby trees and bushes. Each of them was armed with bright red dodgeballs instead of guns and looked to each be formidable opponents in their own right.

"_Merda_...!" Damiano cursed. The group scattered as the camouflaged men began attacking. Before long, it became a veritable free-for-all that turned the entire park into a battleground.

Kiyohiko leaned up against a tree, panting from all the running. He was quickly joined by Damiano, who seemed just as exasperated.

"This is going to be the death of us," Kiyohiko panted. "It's not exactly how I imagined I would spend my weekend, or how I would see Rosario-nee again."

"She does seem to be getting along with Annje well, doesn't she?" Damiano noted. The Vongola peeked out from behind the tree too see that Rosario and Annje (aided by Gerardus the Unicorn) were starting to corner Hans; the little boy cursing and half-crying at the futility of escape.

"A little too well," Kiyohiko frowned. He looked up and saw a decent-looking branch about halfway up the tree. "Hey, Damiano-kun…"

"Yeah, Don Yohi?"

"Can you still climb trees?"

"Is Sorella still psycho?"

"Then give me a boost, will you?"

Damiano smirked as he cupped his hands together as a step for his friend to vault up the tree with. He ascended not too long afterwards, finding that Kiyohiko had found a branch with a perfect view of the park.

It was chaos. Over at one end, Masaru was laying spread-eagle on the ground after being pelted in the side of the head with a dodgeball, leaving Saki and Haruhi to run around in an attempt to tag him back in. Hans was curled up in the middle of the park, trying his best not to cry. Rosario and Annje were scurrying around, attempting to tag their team's members back in.

"Signorina Haruhi is so cool…" Damiano sighed, staring at the girl in question.

"Well, you haven't tried to teach her mathematics yet," Kiyohiko laughed. "Her dad was never very good at schoolwork and I doubt she even tries to pick things up from her mom."

"She makes up for it in other areas."

"Oh really now?"

"Yeah. She makes me kind of nervous whenever she's around."

"...and defensive whenever Reborn is added to the mix." Kiyohiko let out a chuckle and sighed. "I wish he would let up, you know?"

"Of course. The Arcobaleno infuriates me. It's almost like I'm not myself… but more like…"

"I know."

"Yeah."

Kiyohiko and Damiano sat there in silence for a while, watching what was going on below. Things were so peaceful that they never expected a dodgeball to come whizzing through the tree branches and crack Damiano in the back of the head. The teen fell to the ground, causing Kiyohiko to panic.

"What the!" he cried out, jumping down to his friend. Damiano was a bit groggy from hitting his head on the grass, but was otherwise fine.

"No hiding," Reborn said. Kiyohiko looked up to see the infant hitman perched on the branch they were just on, a dodgeball in each hand. "It obviously looks like I need to take it up a notch."

"No you don't…!" Kiyohiko warned. Reborn ignored him and threw one of the balls at him. It sped past his face and into the grass behind him, exploding on impact.

"Shit! Let's get out of here!" Kiyohiko panicked. He was literally dragging Damiano along as he ran over towards Hans. The teen ducked to avoid another exploding dodgeball, covering Hans so that the child was not hit by the flying clumps of grass and dirt.

"Eleventh! I'm supposed to be the one protecting you!" Hans protested, trying not to show that he had been crying despite the snot running from his nose betraying him. "We need to go get revenge on Rosario and Annje! I am not going to be beaten by them!"

"That's all good and fine, but we need to bolt," Kiyohiko said. He breathed a small sigh of relief when Damiano came to his senses and seemed to have recovered from the hit to the head. "Reborn's using exploding dodgeballs now."

The small boy's eyes grew wise at the mention of explosions and, to Kiyohiko's absolute horror, grinned madly.

"Awesome!" he cheered. "If those explode, then things are just getting interesting!" He whipped out his slingshot and launched a pebble that had been on the ground. The pebble hit a ball halfway across the field and exploded mid-air. Everyone else in the park stared at the smoldering remains as they drifted down to the ground.

Kiyohiko blanched. "Not good."

"Scatter!" Damiano shouted as some more dodgeballs came their way. He, Kiyohiko and Hans split up, all attempting to avoid the exploding balls.

"Where are these things coming from…?" Hans noted as he narrowly avoided a ball that instead of exploding, produced spikes that flung everywhere.

"I don't know, but I'm sure Reborn has something to do with it!" Kiyohiko said. He ended up kicking a ball, which caught on fire and caused one of the camouflaged men to erupt into flames.

"Woah…" the guys marveled. After a split second, Damiano found himself running off after Haruhi and Hans had jumped on Gerardus the Unicorn, attempting to make the Box Animal toss Annje.

"Get off! You're going to make Annje fall!" the girl cried.

"That's the point!"

"Hey, pay attention Little Cousin!" Masaru laughed, coming up from behind and slapping Kiyohiko on the back. "It looks like the game is getting extremely exciting now!"

"Extremely dangerous is more like it," Kiyohiko replied. "You wouldn't be able to differentiate between fun and dangerous if your life depended on it."

"Now that is a highly negative view," Reborn said, materializing out of nowhere. He stood next to where Kiyohiko was crouched down, holding a purple bazooka that was aimed right for Kiyohiko's head. "I believe you must be punished for such thoughts."

Just as the cannon fired, Kiyohiko ducked. He remembered what that bazooka did—it was the Ten Year Bazooka and the last thing he wanted was to be thrust ten years into the future into an environment that was completely foreign and possibly, heaven forbid, dangerous. The bazooka's shot went over his head and headed straight towards the still-bickering Annje and Hans.

"Look out you guys!" Kiyohiko screamed. He was too late however, since the children only had a second to look before being enveloped in a cloud of smoke.

"Oh my… now look what you did Yohi," Reborn scolded.

"You were the one who fired the cannon!" Kiyohiko protested. He had no more time to argue though, as the smoke was clearing up. In the place of the children were their eighteen-year-old forms. Hans was tall and slim, looking like an eighteen-year-old version of his father with shorter hair and slight chin stubble. Annje, however, was even taller than Hans—about an entire head taller than Damiano—was curvy and "smoking hot," as Masaru put it. They appeared to have come right from a club, as they were dressed in trendy clothes that were nearly dripping in sweat and were in the middle of dancing, which they awkwardly stopped once they realized the music was no longer playing.

"Oh… so our younger selves must have been hit," Older Hans said as he looked at their surroundings. He wore one of Gokudera's signature scowls and seemed to scratch the back of his head the same way. "I was wondering when this would start happening. We were eight when we first met, right? That would certainly put us due for a few of these backpedaling trips."

"Ja, ja, Schatz… I remember this…!" Older Annje smiled nostalgically as a dodgeball sped past her. She appeared to be unfazed by the schoolyard-type carnage that lay about her. "Weren't we on different teams?" She absentmindedly played with a ring that she was wearing on a necklace chain as she observed her surroundings.

"I do believe so," Older Hans smirked. "Oh, hey there Eleventh! Wow… you sure were small when we were in freshman year. Then again, I was much smaller…"

"Enough chit-chat," Reborn said. "You remember the teams: now continue! Remember the sensitivity of this time period!"

"Ja Reborn!" they both smiled. The two from the future faced each other and jumped back, eerie grins upon their faces.

"Gerardus!" Older Annje shouted, calling forth her Box Animal. A majestic indigo unicorn materialized in front of her. "Let's get him! He's powerless without his Attribute Weapons!" She scooped up a dodgeball and hopped onto Gerardus, heading straight for Hans.

"…as if I'm totally defenseless," the young man chuckled. He crouched down low to the ground once the ball came towards him and then did a dangerous leap between Gerardus's legs. The unicorn stumbled, its form faltering and returning to its box. Older Annje fell on top of Older Hans, who giggled and rolled over so that he was the one on top.

"Uh… _ew_," Haruhi said, staring at the scene. By this point, everyone on Kiyohiko's team had stopped to watch the spectacle while Rosario's team attempted not to watch. Rosario was watching, however, quite amused at the entire situation.

"That's love for you!" she swooned.

"Is that Gokudera-kun and Annje-chan older siblings…?" Saki gaped. Masaru blinked at her.

"You're extremely lost, aren't you?"

"Not my fault you guys have strange rules."

"That right there isn't one of our rules," Kiyohiko grimaced, not able to take his eyes away from what was quickly becoming an intimate and giggle-filled moment. Older Hans was closing in on Older Annje's face when the telltale smoke enveloped them and the regular child versions of Hans and Annje appeared, the former dragging the latter as she lay curled up on the ground with her ears covered.

"Annje doesn't like the noise! It's too loud and there's lots of people she doesn't know!" the girl sobbed, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"We're back!" Hans shouted at her. "Whatever it was wore off!"

"Annje's still scared!"

"That's it; I'm going home," Kiyohiko frowned. He turned on his heel and walked away sourly.

"Wait! Eleventh! Don't forget me!" Hans called out. He let go of Annje and ran after the teen.

"You did that on purpose," Damiano muttered in Reborn's direction.

"The future we are shown by the Bazooka can always be changed," Reborn grinned.

"That was the future…?" Saki wondered.

"Come Saki-chan," Rosario smiled as she took Saki by the arm and began to walk away. "Let me explain to you a little thing we like to call the Space-Time Continuum and how it's totally manipulated bull."

* * *

**A/N**: Can YOU predict Kiyohiko's Guardians? Is Masaru right, wrong, or a little bit of both? :D Long chapter again! I almost should have broken it up…


	16. Interlude III

**NOTES**: I laughed the entire time I wrote this. You have been forewarned.

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: Echan, Amandy, The Red King, Charpie, Oblivious Obscenity and Erin Clover!

* * *

Interlude III

Hello there! Annje here! Annje just came from Haruhi-nee's house, where she was talking with her mom! Yama-mama talked to Annje about how much fun she had when she was younger! She even gave Annje a tape-recorder that she had used to conbutt…cunruck…conduct! Yeah! The tape-recorder she used to conduct interviews! So Annje decided she was going to conluk… er… make her own interviews! Wish her luck as she does her best!

Now it's time for the first part of the Annje-Annje Interviews! Annje's gonna interview Kiyohiko-nii, since he's been really good to her since she started going to school here! He does cool stuff like teach Annje Japanese, talks to her in German, 'cause she's better at it than Japanese, and trains with Reborn! There he is right now in his room!

-Kiyohiko-nii! What are you doing?

-Homework. It's some pretty advanced stuff, so I'm not sure if you'd understand Annje-chan. It's some pretty advanced English that I'm translating into both Japanese and Italian.

-Is it hard?

-It would be like you translating some English into German and Dutch. It's something very hard I'm explaining in words I've known since I was little.

- Oh. Okay! Annje has been getting homework every night this week too! It makes her angry!

-Well, you have to do it. If you don't then you won't learn.

-Awww! That stinks!

-It's like training, Annje-chan. If you don't train, will you stay the same or get better?

-Stay the same, Annje guesses.

-See? Same thing.

-Oh… okay! Say, did you know that this is the first Annje-Annje Interview ever comstructed?

-You mean "conducted"?

-Yeah! That! Yama-mama told me all about how to do it! She even gave me this tape recorder! It's kinda silly that's it's a tape recorder, since it's digital, but that's what she called it so that's what Annje'll say!

-Annje-chan… I think I hear someone calling for you…

-Nuh-uh! Annje isn't leaving until her interview is done!

-Hey! What's this little girl doing in here!?

-Hana-san…! I can explain!

-Don't tell me you're a lolicon…!

-That'll be easy, since I'm not!

-What's a lolicon?

-GET OUT!

-Annje was just doing an Annje-Annje Interview, Lady-Ma'am! Annje was being good! Yama-mama told her how!

-…

-Hana-san…?

-Get it out before dinner.

-Yes ma'am.

-Who was that? Annje doesn't like her very much.

-That's Masaru-nii's step-mom, Hana-san. She doesn't like kids.

-Why?

-Never asked.

-Oh. Okay.

-Pocky? It's strawberry.

-Thanks Kiyohiko-nii! You're the best!

That was the first Annje-Annje Interview! Please come again next time!

* * *

**A/N**: Expect more of these. Expect many, many more.


	17. Matsuri Mayhem

**NOTES**: Sorry about the drought in updates, everyone; college attacked. Anyways… just in case any of you out there are also reading Echan's story _Skywards_, please note that I have had these events planned out since about, eh, May. Yeah. Took me THAT LONG to write it. :D She did a pretty decent job with her festival chapter, so I rewrote most of this so that they weren't exactly the same.

For more notes on festivals, well-sourced Wikipedia pages, a Google search and some slice-of-life anime should do one wonders. Echan also does fairly well, I believe.

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: Charpie, Colinator, Amandy, Echan, Red King and A Midsummer Night's Dream… thanks for the reviews everyone!

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

_Matsuri Mayhem_

The end of the uneventful dodgeball tournament (which had been rigged so that 1-C won anyways) marked the end of the semester and the beginning of summer vacation. Namimori Senior High had introduced a new schedule that year, and in doing so had elongated the summer by two whole weeks. Looking forward to the two extra weeks of vacation had spread a sort of cabin fever throughout the school, which burst at the seams as the final bell rung.

"So, I wonder what I'm gonna end up doing with all this summer vacation!" Haruhi snickered. She and Saki were walking a length ahead of the guys, the latter group keeping some distance from them. "Saki-chan, do you ever remember a time where we had so much vacation?"

"Not really, Yama-chan, unless you count the time a gas line exploded in our elementary school. It was right in our classroom, remember? School was closed for a couple extra weeks after Golden Week that year."

"Oh yeah… I was in Italy with Masaru-kun visiting Yohi-kun during that Golden Week!" Haruhi glanced back at the guys and grinned brilliantly. Damiano gave a lopsided sort of chuckle back, which elicited an elbow from Masaru, Hans, and Kiyohiko each.

"Hello everyone! Hello everyone!" called Annje as she turned into the alley not too far up the way. "Annje is now off for the summer! Isn't that great!? The teacher even called off half of the summer homework for Annje's class!"

"Wow, that's great, Annje-chan!" Saki exclaimed. The girls all giggled as the youngest of them rushed up to them.

"Oh, Saki-nee?"

"Yeah?"

"They were setting up a large festival by one of the schools Annje passed earlier! Do Japanese people have their harvests in the summer?"

Saki and Haruhi blinked for a moment before bursting into laughter. The little European girl looked at them, completely confounded by their behavior.

"No silly," Haruhi chuckled. "It's a summer festival! Who did you learn about Japan from?"

"Annje taught herself using manga! There were some books and a dictionary Annje's boss gave her, as well as a couple of anime DVDs so she knew how to pronounce things!"

"What kind of manga was it?"

Annje began digging through her schoolbooks and began listing off all the titles she could. "Chii's Sweet Home… Ichigo Mashimaro… a few volumes of Yotsuba… Miyuki-chan in Wonderland…"

"I am going to pretend I did not hear that last one…" Kiyohiko grumbled, now standing directly behind Haruhi and Saki. The last thing he wanted to hear the girl say she read was anything CLAMP… let alone some of their more risqué publications.

"Then I have an idea!" Haruhi said excitedly. She looked happily at Saki and grinned from ear to ear. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

"Considering your dad left two nights ago for Siberia and therefore cannot train you in swordsmanship at the moment, I can only assume you're thinking about baseball."

"Nope! How about if we take everyone to the festival tomorrow?" she exclaimed.

"That sounds like an extremely cool idea!" Masaru chimed in. "It'll be really fun since we can show them about what goes on at a real Japanese festival and be the important guides and things!"

"Festival…? What are they talking about, Eleventh?" Hans asked. Kiyohiko could only sigh.

"It's something I actually avoid going to," he frowned. "Those things are always too crowded for my liking; too many bad things could happen."

"Aw, stop being such an extreme chicken, Little Cousin!" Masaru laughed. "It's about time you three learn about your Japanese heritage through an extreme cultural experience! We can even teach the little Mist-gaijin-chan while we're at it!" Masaru let out a laugh that sounded oddly rehearsed… more like Reborn had prepped him for the conversation beforehand.

"I'm German, you asshole," Hans spat. Masaru bonked the child on the top of his head, causing a large lump to form.

"You're an eighth Japanese; didn't Goku-oji ever tell you that?"

"I thought he was Italian!"

"Not fully Italian. Gokudera-san's mother was half-Japanese, half Italian and his father was whole Italian. That makes him a quarter. You're half German from your mom, but have three-eighths Italian and one-eighth Japanese from your dad."

"Oh… so like the genetics stuff we were talking about in Biology class, except my parents just never explained that Dad was part Japanese."

"…but Gokudera is such a Japanese name…" Saki commented.

"You never know about those Sicilians…" Hans said resolutely. Kiyohiko bit his tongue in order to not berate the child, while Damiano simply slapped his forehead and groaned.

"That's it… we're extremely going to the festival tomorrow!" Masaru decided, his voice resolute. "Since my cousin never goes and Damiano and the brat have never been to a festival, we have to go!"

"Alright! Let's all stay over at my house, Yama-chan!" Saki cheered. "Girls only! Let Sasagawa-kun take the guys and we can all meet up tomorrow!"

"Sounds like an extremely good plan!" Masaru cheered. "Damiano! We're using your place tonight!"

"Wha…?! Why my place?!" Damiano gaped. "Wouldn't it be better just having us go to your house?"

"My aunt and uncle have been trying to make the best of the time while Ryohei-oji is still around since he has to go to Italy for a few months soon," Kiyohiko said, cringing slightly at the thought.

"So they'll be a bit lovey-dovey… so what?" Haruhi shrugged. Kiyohiko and Masaru both stared blankly at her.

"You'd think my Dad would be the screamer," Masaru said in a frighteningly deadpan manner. A light switched on in Haruhi's brain and she nodded silently. Saki and Damiano both awkwardly avoided eye contact with anyone. Annje and Hans on the other hand…

"What are you talking about?" the boy asked.

"Annje is confused! What's a 'screamer'?"

"She screams when they watch scary movies," Saki said, attempting to quickly usher the girl away. She glared at Masaru before glancing at Kiyohiko and mouthing 'You take care of Hans; we've got this one.' "Come on, Annje-chan, my cousin found some treats at an import market the other day that I think you'll like…"

_

* * *

_

"I still don't think Turf-head-ji and that woman are watching scary movies," Hans said. He was wracking his little brain while the others were asleep; Kiyohiko on the bed, Damiano on the couch, Masaru sprawled over the floor and he in an armchair. "I am not convinced."

The boy scratched his head and pondered some more. Damn stupid teenagers and their damn stupid code.

_

* * *

_

"It's an extremely nice day today!" Masaru cheered in a singsong voice. He was walking in front of the rest of the group, a wide grin on his face. They were all wearing short summer kimono, to the chagrin of the others. "I can't wait to get to the festival! Extreme food! Extreme games! Extremely hot girls in their summer yukata…!"

"I am not related to him… I am not related to him…" Kiyohiko muttered. He was the one most horrified at the notion of going to the festival in kimono, but when Masaru produced the pale-orange garment and assaulted him earlier that morning… there was not much choice that the teen had. He tugged at the fabric sourly, not pleased at looking like a walking creamsicle.

"Don't you worry about this, Don Yohi," Damiano said. "At least yours fits." He was right, since although Damiano's dark blue kimono was long enough on the body, his arms were several centimetres too long for the sleeves.

"This thing is itchy…" Hans whined. He was having the most trouble, as he kept on tripping over his wooden platform sandals and could not seem to scratch the itch his light-blue kimono planted right in the middle of his back.

"Oh, quit your bellyaching," Masaru chuckled. "You're being an extreme grouch, you know. It's not like that's the worst thing in the world to wear."

"You're right… that puke-green you're wearing is," Hans snapped back. Masaru pretended not to hear as they came up to the festival grounds.

"Damiano! Let's see how good you are at goldfish scooping!" Masaru laughed. He grabbed Damiano and drug him along, knowing that his hostage was no good and would only do well in making others laugh hysterically.

"Look at that orchestra they're setting up down there," Kiyohiko noted. Over towards the side of the entrance there was a soft depression in the ground that was being used as a makeshift orchestra pit. He turned to Hans and smiled softly. "The last time I saw that many instruments together at a festival, I was with your dad."

"Really…?"

"Yep. He played the piano for a little bit while watching over Haruhi-san and me. It was only the three of us. I think it was before your parents met."

"Goku-oji met Daria-san the next month almost," said Haruhi's voice. Kiyohiko and Hans both jumped at the sound of her, which only elicited laughter. They turned and were met by a crushing hug from someone in a peony-print kimono and dolled up in cosmetics. Upon breaking the hug, it was shown to be Haruhi herself, her grin cranked up to a million watts.

"Ha-Ha-Haruhi-san…" Kiyohiko stammered. "You're… dressed up…"

"Saki-chan talked me into it, so don't make a big deal out of it," she said, pausing to blow a stay hair out of her face. "Just enjoy it while you can, Yohi-kun."

"Holy crap, you actually look like a girl," Hans commented, poking at Haruhi's crimson obi sash. "With the gender-blender name, all the boys' uniforms and clothes that look like they came out of the Eleventh's closet, I was beginning to worry about you."

"Little liar…" Haruhi grinned, grinding her fist into the kid's skull. "You don't worry one iota about me."

"That's a fancy word… iota… are you sure you know what it means?"

"Leave Haruhi-nee alone!" Annje demanded, shoving Hans away from Haruhi. The young girl was in a crème-colored yukata that had a carp in some waves printed on the bottom. "Hans is just a really mean boy! Annje should beat the tar out of him once and for all!"

"Now, now kids, this is not the time to fight," Kiyohiko said, stepping between the two children. "Shouldn't you be playing some of the games or anything? Why don't you go join Masaru-nii and Damiano-san over at the goldfish scooping booth?" Kiyohiko looked over towards the booth in question to see Damiano nearly in tears as he held what was clearly not the first torn paper net.

"I'm not hanging out with those losers. I'd rather hang with you, Eleventh," Hans said. He looked up at Kiyohiko with grinning eyes and the widest smile he could muster. Kiyohiko looked at the boy and frowned.

"Fine; take this." Kiyohiko took a thousand yen note from his pocket and shoved it in Hans's hand. "Take Annje and go to the taiyaki stand over there. I want the two of you to have some to test the quality…"

"Oh, so like a mission?!"

"Yeah—a mission. I can't even tell you what it's for 'cause it's that top secret."

The child's eyes lit up in excitement.

"You listen too, Annje. Now once you kids eat the taiyaki, I need you to go and scope out all the game booths. Reborn told me that some of them might be a little shady, so I want you to play them to find out which ones are the crooked ones and which are on-the-level…"

"…since it would be suspicious if a teenager did that!" Annje gasped.

"Of course. You two just look like some tourist children and even if you go to every stand, you just look enthusiastic. I'd draw attention."

"Don't worry Eleventh! You can count on me!" Hans announced.

"Hey! Annje was given the instructions too!"

"Yeah, but he gave me the money!"

"If you don't at least act civil you'll blow your cover," Kiyohiko added. "What Hans-kun has should be enough. Now go! Hurry!" The children sped off towards the stand and immediately began bickering over their "mission."

"That sure was thinking quick," Haruhi said. She placed her fists on her hips and chuckled slightly as she looked at the two kids. "Do you think they'll be alright?"

"What harm can they do?" Kiyohiko shrugged. "We made sure Hans-kun left any weapons at Damiano-san's house."

"…and Annje's box is at Saki-chan's. I guess they will be okay. Speak of the devil… Saki-chan! We're over here!" Haruhi jumped up and down and waved her arms wildly. Kiyohiko only had to quickly glance to see Saki in her brilliant emerald-green kimono, coming at them with Masaru on one side of her and clinging to Damiano's arm on the other.

"Where's the kids?" she asked.

"On a special taiyaki-related mission," Haruhi laughed.

"Is that a good idea?" Damiano wondered. "Those two tend to be… er…"

"Troublesome?"

"Yeah Don Yohi... troublesome."

"Oh relax," Haruhi snickered. "What's the worst they can do?"

"Don't make me answer that Haruhi-san," Kiyohiko sighed. His friend just giggled in response and grabbed his wrist so she could pull him along.

"Come on Yohi-kun! Let's go get some fireworks!" Kiyohiko smiled in return, allowing himself to be led along without protest.

_

* * *

_

It was not too long before Kiyohiko found himself with a small bag full of fireworks to be used after once the sun began to set. He was sitting on a bench between Saki and Damiano, eating some cotton candy and watching Haruhi and Masaru bicker. He lost track of what the original argument anyways, so he found it safer to simply sit back and watch.

"I'm still putting five-hundred yen on Yama-chan," Saki snickered, swiping some of Kiyohiko's cotton candy. "There's a stick over there that she's been eyeing and she's been known to hit Sasagawa-kun with random tree branches since elementary."

"Why do you think no one's betting against you?" Damiano laughed. "Signorina Haruhi is just too cool to lose."

"Now that's just talk," Kiyohiko shrugged. "Masaru-nii won lots of times when we were little and they would fight. The only thing is that after they fought they'd be best friends again."

"True, true," Saki nodded. She took another clump of cotton candy and leaned back on the bench. "Only thing left to do now is to sit back and watch."

"You're just being an idiot," Haruhi sighed at Masaru. Her near-permanent Yamamoto Smile was stretched thin into a vicious glitter of teeth.

"Yeah, well, you're just being extremely grumpy," he retorted.

"I'm just actually thinking for once."

"Hey, don't force yourself… I know it's new territory to you."

"At least I can think you…!"

"Alright, let's stop this," Kiyohiko said. He stood up and wedged himself between them, which probably was not the smartest move he could make. "Masaru-nii, Haruhi-san, why don't we go find where Hans-kun and Annje-chan went?"

"Oh, were you going to come looking for us, Eleventh?" Hans asked, popping out from behind the bench. Annje was close behind him. Both children were breathing heavily, as if they had just ran from the other side of the festival grounds.

"What's up with you two?" Saki asked. "You two look so winded that you might pass out!"

"Annje just wanted to race!" the girl said cheerily between gulps of air. "Just innocent fun!" She laughed nervously, which sent red flags flying in Kiyohiko's mind.

"What did you two do…?" he asked warily.

"NOTHING!" the children shouted simultaneously. They both looked at one another nervously, as if there was something they were attempting to avoid.

"What did you do now, Hans-kun?" Haruhi asked, abandoning her argument with Masaru. "Did you accidentally break something and run away before paying?"

"Er… not exactly…" the boy started. He avoided eye contact with any of the teenagers, looking even more suspicious than Kiyohiko had originally thought.

"There you brats are!" boomed a voice. Everyone looked up to see an older man glaring at them, covered in scorch marks and pointing at Annje and Hans. "Those are the kids that blew up my stand!"

"It was crooked, Eleventh, I swear it was!" Hans cried.

"Run for it!" Damiano gasped as soon as he noticed that the former stand owner was charging at them. He scooped up Annje and began to dash for the exit. Haruhi threw Hans over her shoulder as well, making sure that the boy wouldn't get left behind. The shop owner chased the group for a good twenty minutes before giving up, and that was only because the teens had all jumped inside a cluster of bushes for cover.

"Is he gone…?" Kiyohiko asked, panting heavily. Saki poked her head out of the bushes and nodded.

"Yeah. He's already turned the corner."

"See… this is why I extremely don't like kids…" Masaru frowned. He turned his stare on Hans and hissed. "I thought we got rid of all of your explosives! You little sneak!"

"It was crooked!" Hans protested. "Eleventh wanted me—"

"—us!—"

"—okay, _us_, to sniff out the crooked stands! What else was I going to do?!"

"Uh, I dunno, warn me?" Kiyohiko said, his voice deadpan. He was about to speak again when he heard a gun cock into position right behind his head. Turning around slowly, he found it was a kimono-clad Reborn sitting lazily in the bush.

"Come Yohi; it is time to visit the festival."

* * *

**A/N**: Meh… the ending feels a little forced. Oh well; this chapter was LONG.


	18. Batter Up

**NOTES**: There are times where I eat, sleep and breathe sports… which then results in chapters like this. I do believe baseball is a common enough sport in anime and the real world, so I would have to kindly ask for anyone to wiki or Google-search if they have any sport-related questions. Now if this had to do with curling or rugby, then I'd go into Exposition Mode. Just be glad I restrained myself and didn't make this about ice hockey.

**REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS**: Charpie, The Red King, Oblivious Obscenity and Echan1263! Thanks for your support!

**SHAMELESS PLUG TIME**: Echan and I are trying to organize a fan art-on-fan fiction contest to take place within the coming months! If you're interested, no matter your art form, come by her forum and drop us a line!

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

_Batter Up_

"Why are we here…?" Kiyohiko asked grumpily. He was lying spread-eagle in the soft grass, soaking in the midday sun with his eyes closed. It was warm and comfortable, yet his frown suggested otherwise.

"Are you being all extremely philosophical on me again, Little Cousin?" Masaru asked. He too was lying in the grass, only a few feet away. A light summer breeze washed over them. "You know I don't get any of it. You should just be glad I'm extremely tired from Dad's extreme morning boxing lessons, or you wouldn't even have anyone to talk to out here."

"No… I'm just asking why we're here-here," the younger cousin clarified. "Why are we even at the park?"

There was the distant sound of hollow metal connecting with cork-and-leather. Some shouting could be heard, but none of it was distinct enough to elicit movement from the cousins.

"Five, four, three, two, one…" Masaru counted. Immediately after one, a baseball plopped into the grass beside his head, rolling gently until it tapped against his temple. It was not too long before the sun was blocked from his face as Hans towered over his relaxed form.

"I don't get why you're not helping out," the child huffed. "I can understand why Eleventh isn't helping, since he doesn't need to, but you're good at sports, you idiot. Why are you just laying there instead of giving the rest of us a hand? That idiot girl likes to hit the long balls out here once I reach the infield and it would be nice to not have to run all the way out here when she does."

"In order to keep up my extreme lifestyle, I need to allow some extreme downtime every so often. Hana-san says that it helps prevent extreme burnout."

"Whatever…" Hans growled. He threw the baseball back towards Damiano, who was on second base, who threw the ball back to Saki on the pitchers' mound.

"Come on Saki-chan! Bring on the heat!" Haruhi grinned from the batter's box.

"I practice martial arts, not baseball," Saki laughed. "Be lucky I'm doing this; we shouldn't even be here on the middle school's grounds." She hurled the ball towards the plate, allowing Haruhi's bat to connect and send the ball over to Masaru again… this time, landing on his stomach.

"Why do you say that, Saki-chan?" Haruhi asked. She chuckled as she watched Masaru roll around in the outfield and Kiyohiko panic over his cousin.

"I hear that the new head prefect is kinda scary and disciplines anyone who steps onto school property, including teachers, parents and students from other schools!"

"Oh, I wouldn't be too worried," Haruhi shrugged. "It's just a middle school kid."

"You of all people shouldn't judge a book by its cover, Signorina Haruhi," Damiano said. "Remember when that middle school kid attacked us when we were trespassing at night? He was frightening!"

"Oh, but that's just Osamu-kun," Haruhi said, waving her hand nonchalantly. "He's been confrontational since we first met him."

"So you do know the middle school's new prefect," Saki said in wonder. "The kid's a monster, from what I've heard. He's only a first-year!"

"Yup, that's Osamu-kun!" Haruhi said. She had now walked over to the mound to join Damiano and Saki so she did not have to shout. "He always seemed to think that peoples' limbs were for biting as a kid."

"I don't think that's just a bad childhood habit…" Damiano said. Haruhi shrugged.

"Hey Yama-chan?"

"Yeah, Saki-chan?"

"Did you invite anyone else to the field?"

"No… why?"

"'Cause there's someone over there trying to wave us down…" Saki pointed over Haruhi's shoulder towards the backstop. A young man about their age was standing there, jumping about and waving his arms frantically. From what the teens could see, the stranger was foreign as he was extremely tall with European features.

"Well, then let's go see what he wants!" Haruhi grinned. She trotted over to the guy, Saki and Damiano right behind her.

"Hi there!" Haruhi said. "Did you want something?"

"Yeah…" the guy said, finally calming down. His accent was slightly choppy, but understandable and surprisingly familiar. "I wanted to know if I could play ball with you!"

"I don't see why not!" Haruhi shrugged. "Hey, you speak Japanese pretty good for a foreigner; almost sound like you went to school around here. Where are you from?"

"Toronto, Canada, but my step-mom's from Namimori so she's taught me a lot of Japanese since I was little. We're visiting her parents and sister right now. The name's Jack, by the way—Jack Justice. Kind of a funny name, I know."

"Not at all Jack-kun! I'm Saki!"

"I'm Haruhi!"

"I'm Damiano."

"You're half, aren't you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Better than just getting stared at; got my dad's height but my mom's looks, so I kind of stand out."

"Are those guys playing with you too?" Jack asked, pointing out towards the outfield. The others looked to see Kiyohiko restraining Masaru from attacking Hans.

"Oh, yeah. That's just Masaru-kun, Yohi-kun and Hans-kun. Masaru-kun and Hans-kun don't get along very well."

"Obviously," Jack laughed. "So is it just batting practice right now?"

"Well, we don't have enough to have a team, so that's all it is," Saki sighed. "It's bad enough Yama-chan hits all my pitches."

"I can pitch!" Jack said cheerily. "I've pitched in my Little League teams since I was a kid! I want to get just as good as Halladay and Romero and pitch for the Blue Jays one day!"

"Then you're up," Saki smiled slyly, shoving her glove and the ball in Jack's chest. "Just warning you: Yama-chan's the best in the school. She even beats the senior boys."

"Oh, I think I can handle it," Jack chuckled. He took a step before hearing the click of a handgun. Looking down, the foreigner saw Reborn standing there, Gun-Leon pointed at him with deadly accuracy.

"Oh… uh… hi…"

"Hey there Reborn-kun!" Haruhi smiled. "We just made a new friend. He's from Canada."

"So he thinks he can keep up then…" Reborn mused. "I would like to see him try."

"Reborn! No!" Kiyohiko screamed. He ran over and grabbed the infant hitman be the scruff of his neck. "Don't point that at other people! I'm sorry, Gaijin-san! He thinks he's playing a game…!"

"Hey, kids are kids," Jack shrugged, noting that Reborn's gun was still trained on him. "If your folks accidentally left out some gangster flicks one night, nothing you can do."

"It will do you good to put me down, Yohi," Reborn smirked. Realizing what he was doing, Kiyohiko dropped his tutor in an instant. "Now then… it is time to get into your respective teams."

"What teams? This was batting practice for the idiot," Hans said as he and Masaru came over to see what all the commotion was about. "Oh, a new guy! You better not be after my place as Eleventh's right hand!"

"I'm not…?"

"Good."

"We don't even have enough for one team, let alone two," Kiyohiko noticed.

"That's where you're wrong!" said Rosario, popping up behind Kiyohiko's shoulder. The teen jumped at the sound of the Varia member, who had somehow assembled nine of her subordinates, Annje and herself on the infield dirt without anyone else noticing.

"Oh, so you've got an extra team," Jack said cheerfully. "That solves it!"

"You would think…" Kiyohiko grumbled.

* * *

"This sure is fun!" Jack laughed. He wound up and pitched a fast one at a baffled Annje. The poor girl was standing there with a bewildered look on her face, as if she had never even seen someone pitch before that. Kiyohiko caught the ball behind the plate, covered in special Mafia catchers' padding that he never knew existed before one of Rosario's men forced it on him. It looked like regular catchers' equipment with the exception of the large Vongola crest emblazoned upon the chest protector and helmet, the latter topped off with Reborn in full umpire regalia.

The teams ended up being boys versus girls for the most part. Damiano was out on second base, Masaru was sleeping in the outfield, Hans was playing shortstop, Jack insisted on pitching and Rosario's followers filled in the rest of the gaps. Haruhi, Saki and Rosario were in the dugout with their suit-clad teammates, having thought it would be funny to send Annje out first.

"That was too fast! Annje couldn't even see the ball!" the little girl whined.

"You gotta keep your eyes on the ball, not on Jack-san," Kiyohiko explained. "You were just staring at him, not at the ball."

"Leave teaching the baby the game to her teammates, Eleventh!" Hans called. "She'll get it eventually!"

"Annje is not a baby!" Annje shouted. She dropped her bat and ran over to Hans and tackled him into the dust, where the two proceeded to fistfight.

"Should we stop them…?" asked the Varia henchman standing on third base.

"No, just let them go at it. They'll tucker out eventually," Rosario said as she walked up to the plate. "I just want a shot at this North American style of baseball before Haruhi-chan hits the ball out of the district."

"You know I will!" Haruhi laughed from the dugout. "We better let Annje-chan finish her at-bat though! It's rude to skip over someone else's turn!"

"That it is…" growled a voice from behind Kiyohiko. The young Vongola did not even have to turn around to know that Hibari Osamu was standing there holding his staff in an attacking position. "What are you herbivores doing here? I thought that the high school has its own ball field. There is no reason for you to use this one."

"Oh, but I believe there is," Reborn said. "You will let us use this field, Osamu, and you shall allow this out of your own free will."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just bite your head off and let you bleed to death."

"This is why," Reborn smirked. Kiyohiko glanced upwards and saw the barrel of the Ten Year Cannon pointed towards shortstop. Before he could say anything, it was fired and the target was once again Annje and Hans.

"Hey! Kids! Watch out!" Jack shouted as he watched the mass from the Cannon arc upwards into the air. The speed at which the ammunition traveled was almost comically slow. He ran towards the fighting children to move then out of the way, but he was only able to tear Annje off of Hans before he was hit with the bullet, enveloping him and Annje in the smoke that ensued.

"Not good…" Kiyohiko squeaked. Osamu stepped forward and muttered intelligibly to himself, sounding intrigued. Once the smoke cleared, an older Annje was sitting down on the ground, dressed in pajama bottoms and a camisole, with a rather bewildered look on her face. A man dressed in a baseball uniform that could have only been an older form of Jack had come mid-pitch and fell unceremoniously on his face. When he looked up, he seemed to be bewildered at his surroundings.

"Where am I?" he asked. "Wasn't I just in Boston?"

"Hey, I was just watching a movie in Köln," Older Annje shrugged. She glanced around and grinned. "So we're playing baseball?"

"Yes you are," Osamu said. He took a seat on the wooden bleachers and nodded in what was the scariest look of approval anyone there had ever seen. "Continue."

"You heard him! Let's go!" Haruhi shouted. "Annje-chan's batting and Jack-kun's pitching!"

"Annje… now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time…" Older Jack mused as he went to the pitcher's mound. "Something tells me that I'm not exactly in the right time."

"Just pitch and show me what those Americans let into their Major Leagues," Older Annje laughed. She twitched her nose as Jack wound up and hurled the ball towards her. She hit a ground ball towards the outfield, where a Varia man scooped it up and threw it to second. Older Annje, however, was there before the ball went inside Damiano's glove, making the teen jump at her sudden appearance.

"I forget how jumpy you used to be, Damiano-sensei," Older Annje remarked. She giggled and looked over at Hans, who had not moved from his spot on the dirt and was still staring fearfully slack-jawed at Older Annje.

"This game isn't quite as interesting as it should be," Reborn said. He fired the Ten Year Cannon again and hit the in-shock Hans, replacing him with his eighteen-year-old self who was only wearing a pair of boxer shorts and appeared to have been holding someone by the scruff of their neck and giving quite the lecture.

"…und du bist—ah, great…" His rant came to a screeching halt as soon as he realized he was standing in the middle of Namimori nearly naked. "Oh, hi there… I guess I'm short?"

"Just keep on playing, Schatz," Older Annje said. She wriggled her nose and a glove appeared on Older Hans's hand. "Be glad that this is the only thing that you need to do."

"I guess…" the young man grumbled. He waited patiently for Rosario to strike out and groaned when he saw that it was Saki up next to bat.

"Couldn't you just play Haruhi-nee-san and get it over with?!" he snapped.

"Nee-san? That's a new one," Saki giggled. "I never knew you were capable of liking Yama-chan!"

"The one in the future… not this idiot," Hans growled, motioning towards the Haruhi bouncing around in the dugout.

"This is not exactly what I had in mind when Haruhi-san asked if I wanted to play some baseball…" Kiyohiko groaned. He crouched down into catching position and waited for another devilishly-fast pitch from Older Jack. It was a good thing that the Ten Year Cannon only lasted five minutes… else he was sure the force at which the balls were being thrown was going to break his wrist. He looked up at Reborn and frowned. "Can't you just leave us alone?"

"…and miss such an opportunity? Not on your life," Reborn said. Older Jack wound up and pitched again. Just as he was releasing the ball, the telltale cloud of smoke enveloped him and Older Annje to take them back to their correct time. As soon as Older Annje had been replaced by the normal child-sized Annje, the glove over Older Hans's hand dissipated and the baseball bouncing on the infield dirt bounced right up into his nose.

"Aaah! It's the scary screaming man!" Annje cried, hiding behind Damiano. "Don't let him start yelling at Annje again! She didn't do anything wrong!"

"Come on, Annje-chan, you gotta move forward!" Saki shouted as she came to a stop right before second base. "I can't pass you up or the runs won't count!"

"Don't let him near Annje! He yells mean things!" Hans was still cussing up a storm in what sounded like three different languages, blood streaming down his front as he hopped around in pain. It looked as if his nose had been out-right broken by the wayward baseball that was now sitting at his feet.

"Woah, I must have been hit on the head pretty hard…" Jack marveled from the mound. He was looking fairly wide-eyed, as if he had just come off of a major shock, while he stood there blissfully. "I was in a bullpen in Boston getting ready to warm up as a relief pitcher! That was really cool… but I know it was just a dream…"

With a puff of smoke, Child Hans came back to the timeline cowering in a comical look of fear. He blinked and looked around, making sure he was certain of his surroundings once more. The child saw the baseball at his feet and paused before remembering what he had been doing.

"Run Annje-chan!" Saki shouted, pushing the foreign child in front of her. Annje ran as fast as she could towards third, but Hans was able to grab the ball and tag her out before she could reach the base. Saki smartly stayed on second though, preventing the final out.

"Aw, man!" Annje groaned. She stomped off towards the dugout, Haruhi ruffling her hair on her way to the batter's box.

"I'm the last out, Yohi-kun," Haruhi smirked. "You get this and the inning's over."

"I know you're gonna hit it out of the park though," Kiyohiko replied. "You almost always do when we're making a full game out of it."

"Have a little faith in yourself, Yohi-kun. You'll never become a man otherwise."

"Haruhi-san…?" Kiyohiko stood there slack-jawed at his friend, who simply grinned and whacked the baseball as far as she could before laughing towards first.

"You heard Haruhi," Reborn said, pointing Gun-Leon at Kiyohiko's forehead. "If you don't get this out, you'll never become a man." Reborn pulled the trigger, causing the teen to fall backwards and immediately jump up while ripping out of his clothes.

"MAKE THE OUT WITH MY DYING WILL!" he shouted. With blazing speed, he dashed off towards where the baseball was headed, causing everyone else to stand there flabbergasted.

"Uh… that's different…" Jack said, unsure about what to say. "Is that something baseball players do in Japan that they're experimenting with or something?"

"No… it's just our Yohi-kun," Haruhi smiled. In the outfield, Masaru sat up straight and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"What'd I miss?"

* * *

**A/N**: Yes, I totally made Jack up on-the-fly and just kind of winged it. Might use him again later on. Also, he has one of the most manly names ever. That's, like, David Ryder-level right there, right up there with Yor and Gristle McThornbody… except not quite as obvious. Also... pssst... this wasn't beta'd. If there's any large errors, just let me know and I'll fix it promptly.


	19. Interlude IV

****

NOTES: So, umm... yeah. Laptop cord fritzed out on me, so I had to wait a couple weeks before I could convince it to work long enough to let me charge it and get my fan fictions. o3o 'Cha. Well, at least I have all of my notes again!

REVIEWER SHOUT-OUTS: Charpie, Echan and Suigin Walker Thanks for the support, guys It really perks up my mood.

SHAMELESS PLUG TIME: Echan and I are now official on our fan art-on-fan fiction contest over on her form "Just Another Forum"! We have multiple categories and prizes to be won! Hurry on over and declare your participation and/or put in your fan fiction for consideration!

* * *

Interlude IV

Hello again! Annje here once more with her Annje-Annje Interview! Since Annje interviewed Kiyohiko-nii last time, she thought it would be a good idea to interview his cousin Masaru-o-nii-san! He's really different from Kiyohiko-nii! They're so different that Annje sometimes has trouble believing they're even cousins, even though they live like brothers! It's kinda confusing, but lots of things are!

-What'cha doing o-nii-san?

-Practicing and you can call me Masaru. "O-nii-san" makes me feel extremely old.

-You're not old!

-That's the point.

-Oh. What are you practicing? Annje's seen you hop around like that when playing with Saki-nee!

-It's called Muay Thai. My extremely cool godfather taught it to me.

-Cool! Can you teach Annje some?

-No, 'cause you gotta be in extremely good physical condition. You're in decent shape for your age and all that, but it's not enough.

-Okay! Hey, who's your godfather?

-Luss-oji.

-Who's he?

-A friend of my dad's who works for my uncle.

-Who's your uncle? Is that Kiyohiko-nii's dad?

-Yup.

-What's he do?

-Do you ever shut up?

-Annje's only asking questions for the Annje-Annje Interview!

-Well, it's getting extremely annoying, kid. Take it somewhere else.

-...but Annje's comducting her Annje-Annje Interview! She already interviewed Kiyohiko-nii upstairs and thought it would be a good idea to also interview his o-nii-san while she's at it!

-Go away, kid. You're messing up my mojo and it takes a while to get my mojo as extreme as it is right now.

-Annje still wants to ask you questions though, o-nii-san!

-I said to not call me that! It's extremely not cool!

-You're yelling a lot! Don't yell at Annje! She doesn't like yelling!

-Then why are you yelling back at me?!

-'Cause you're yelling, o-nii-san!

-Masaru-nii! What are you doing down here screaming your lungs out at Annje-chan?

-The kid won't leave me alone. She totally threw off my extreme training! Now I have to start all over again!

-Just humor her and she'll go away. I promised Hana-san she'll be out before dinner.

-You're a sucker, you know that Little Cousin?

-Just let the kid interview you.

-All right... fine. What did you want to ask me?

-Uhhh...

-Come on... get it out. You're never gonna be able to be an extremely cool Mafia hitman like the rest of us if you can't ever figure out what you're gonna say You gotta be an extremely smooth talker, no matter the situation!

-Really?

-Masaru-nii Don't tell her things like that I told you that she's just a kid!

-Yeah, well we were kids too and we turned out fine.

-Says the guy with the record number of concussions while attending Namimori Elementary... all of which gained after some pretty stupid stunts!

-You're just jealous 'cause you never got to see them. Haruhi and Saki got to though.

-I know. Between them and Hana-san is how I know it's not just you and Ryohei-oji-san making up stories.

-You're mean, you know that?

-'Cause I gotta keep you in line! Come on Masaru-nii... you and I both know that if I weren't there to apologize for you, there'd be tons of places we'd never be able to go again and that includes school!

-Uh-huh, yeah, sure. It's not like you'd go anywhere to begin with You can be so boring sometimes

-It's not like I get to stretch out with you taking up everything. Even when you'd come over to visit when we were kids you'd end up taking the whole bed and I'd find myself on the floor in the morning!

-So what–you left Italy just to follow me around and be a little un-extreme dork!?

This is the part where Annje ran upstairs. It was getting really loud and since she doesn't like loud noises, she left. Annje did smell something good coming from the kitchen though, so she went and investimgated. There was that Hana-san lady and she looked like she was cooking something yummy. She didn't look too happy to see Annje.

-So, you done?

-Kiyohiko-nii and Masaru-o-nii-san are fighting and Annje doesn't like loud noises, so she's just gonna leave.

-Wait... what?

-Oh, they're fighting in the basement.

-...but what did you call them?

-Kiyohiko-nii and Masaru-o-nii-san. Annje thought she was supposed to call them that Masaru-o-nii-san doesn't seem to like it though.

-Hey kid, I got some cookies here if you want some.

-Really?!

-Yeah, help yourself. Just don't tell anyone.

-Cool! Thanks Hana-san!

-Call me "oba-chan."

-Okay oh-eh-bah-chan... uh... can I just call you Tante Hana?

-Just don't go spreading it around, kid.

-Okay! Well, Annje thinks that this episode of the Annje-Annje Interview is done! Until next time Tape-Recorder-san!

* * *

**A/N**: I never realized how many exclamation points I use when writing Annje now that I had to go about posting this all without my laptop. D:


	20. Increase Male Readership Week

Notes: Hi. I don't know how long this updating trend is going to last. Let's enjoy it while we can. Also, I don't think I was meant for this sort of fluffy filler… not whatsoever. I'd rather write more Annje-Annje Interviews to be frank and since I know how you guys _love_ them to pieces… yeah. Let's just get on with it.

Reviewer Shout-outs: Charpie, Mandy, Colinator, Hana Izuru, Oblivious Obscenity, the rebornster, shinnifura-chan and Mythril Maiden. If all of you stuck around long enough to read this update, I thank you all.

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

_Increase Male Readership Week!_

Saki stretched as she sat up on her futon, chasing the sleep from her limbs. It was still summer, quite evident by the fact she only needed a sheet to sleep and the early morning sun was already beating down on her family's tiny martial arts dojo.

"Saki-chan!" her cousin called from down the hallway. "Telephone! It's Yamamoto-chan! I'll just leave it here on the shelf here!"

"Coming!" Saki ran into the hall and snatched the old-style rotary phone from its perch on the shelf.

"Hello!"

"_Hey Saki-chan! I was just talking with Rosario-nee and we were thinking about going to the pool! Wanna come?"_

"Sure! I got a new bathing suit last week that I've been dying to try out! It'll be just us girls! Don't invite Sasagawa-kun or Sawada-kun or they'll ruin it!"

"_How about Damiano-kun...?"_

Saki blushed furiously and hissed into the phone. "Don't invite him too! What happens if the bathing suit I got looks differently in sunlight than it did in the store! I'd be horrified!"

"_Don't worry... I got ya: no boys. Meet me at my house in twenty minutes. Is that enough time to get ready?"_

"Plenty! See you then!"

Saki ran back down the hallway to her room as quick as she could. It was not often that they got a day to themselves like this, so she had to make sure that she was ready. After putting on her bikini top and swim shorts, she threw a shirt on and made a dash for the door, making sure to take her drawstring bag on her way out. She was in such a hurry that Saki almost forgot to put her sandals on.

* * *

"Wow Yama-chan... that sure is a different look on you..." Saki said, doing her best not to laugh. Haruhi was standing there in a bright pink tank top and matching shorts. A rare frown was on her face, as she was flanked by her cheery mother and an equally-pleased Rosario–the perpetrators of such a vile scheme.

"Don't you think this looks adorable?" Haru asked excitedly. "If you girls are going to go to the pool, you've got to at least look your best to impress those boys!"

"Mom... _please_..." Haruhi groaned. She shrugged her mother's hand from her shoulder, giving Saki the chills at the un-Haruhi-ness of her friend.

"So... how'd you manage that?" laughed Hans as he walked into the kitchen in search of breakfast. The child chuckled smugly as he hopped up onto the countertop and got himself an apple. "She looks like an actual girl for once; that's new."

"Sneaking up from behind works wonders, _mein Kusine_!" Rosario grinned, giving a thumbs-up in unison with Haru.

"First off, I'm your _Vetter_, you are my _Kusine_. Second, you should really try doing that more often."

"I know where you sleep..." Haruhi hissed, forcing a thin smile. Hans just laughed, but any retort from Haruhi was silenced by the kitchen phone ringing.

"Hello?" Haru asked as she answered the phone. Her face lit up as she heard the voice on the other end. "Oh! Ta-kun! How is it over in Siberia? I never knew there was such a call for baseball tutors there–Haruhi-chan, it's your father–oh...? You're where? For how long? Give me an hour; sit tight. Love you too!"

"What was that about Zia Haru?" Rosario asked.

"Takeshi's stopped over in the airport while he's waiting for a flight to Sydney. He says he misses me; can you girls watch Hans today while I'm out?"

"I was gonna go hang out with Eleventh today! I don't need to be babysat like a little kid!" Hans protested. Rosario put her cousin in a crushing hug that landed his face squarely between her breasts and left his legs dangling helplessly in the air.

"Oh, I'm sure Yohi would understand if you have a bit of fun instead of working! You're only a kid! Live a little!"

"Get off me!" Hans flailed about in an attempt to relax the young woman's grip. It did not work.

* * *

It proved to be a beautiful, sunny day. The ladies at the pool were all having fun splashing about in the water, getting each other soaked, and lounging underneath the warm sun and cool shade alike. It was only good times for the ladies, however, as Saki, Rosario and Hans were gathered outside of a changing booth impatiently waiting for the occupant to emerge.

"Just come on out, Yama-chan!" Saki pleaded. "No one's gonna laugh at you."

"I'm not coming out!" Haruhi snapped. "There's still people out there!"

"That looks normal to the girls out here!" Rosario laughed. Saki groaned a bit, as the bikini-clad woman failed to realize that she was one of the major reasons that Haruhi was being so adamant about staying hidden.

"It's just a bunch of girls and me," Hans assured, rolling his eyes. "It's actually kind of creepy now that I think about it... I don't see another guy in the entire place... what the hell...?"

"I don't care!"

"Now come on out here before I make you come out!" Rosario ordered, cracking her bullwhip. Saki and Hans exchanged wary glances as they waited for a response from the reclusive teen.

Angrily, Haruhi slammed open the door of the changing booth. Her grin was more snarl as she stared down Rosario. Haruhi's swimsuit was a light pink with a blue flower print and cut in a style that was actually quite flattering. Since this was Yamamoto Haruhi, however, the Tomboy Queen of Namimori, she was clearly upset at the bikini-style swimsuit.

"Oh, hey, look at that, you're a girl with a decent set of boobs," Hans smirked, noting Haruhi's clear mix of embarrassment and anger. She ground her fist into his skull.

"Act your age for once," she grumbled. Haruhi stomped over to the wading pool and sat down in the shallow end so that everything up to her shoulders was covered.

"Come on... you look cute..." Rosario insisted, attempting to drag Haruhi out of the water. The younger girl simply resisted.

"I don't fill out a swimsuit like you do, Rosario-nee," Haruhi grumbled, sinking down to her chin. Rosario simple sighed, as she had made sure to pick out a bathing suit for Haruhi that was better for her chest size than if she had simply taken one of her own and put it on the teen.

"Well, since it doesn't seem like we're getting Yama-chan out of there anytime soon... now what?" Saki asked. Rosario just shrugged in response. Hans just grinned to himself.

"Well then, if you ladies don't need me anymore, I'm just gonna go and see the Eleve–AAHHH!" Hans jumped back when he turned around, as he came nose-to-nose with Annje. The girl was all smiles as she stood there in her own bright pink swimsuit and an inner tube.

"Hello! Can Annje hang out with you guys?" she asked.

"Are you capable of making noise when you move?" Hans snapped. Annje simply shook her head cheerily.

"Nope! It's part of Annje's training to not make any noise! That's what Damiano-nii told her to do! He said sneaking up on you brings me more experience points... whatever that means."

"I'm gonna kill him..." Hans growled with a clenched fist.

"Hey Annje-chan...?" Saki began, taking the younger girl off to the side. "Why don't you and Gokudera-kun go over and help Yama-chan feel better? She needs some cheering up."

"Haruhi-nee's frowning! Annje must fix this!" Annje gasped. She grabbed Hans by the wrist and dragged him over to the wading pool's edge.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hans protested. "So she's frowning! Everyone does that!"

"Not Haruhi-nee, you grumpy-puss!" Annje replied. The two children then began bickering back and forth. Before long, Hans was able to push Annje into the pool, which found him being dragged along for the ride. The fight became a splashing contest and the trouble with Haruhi was quickly forgotten.

"This is boring; I'm sorry I even suggested it," Haruhi gurgled through the pool water. "I'm never telling Mom when I go to the pool ever again." She tried to sink even lower as Rosario and Saki slipped in on either side of her, making a Haruhi sandwich.

"Hey, don't worry," Saki smiled. "As long as you've got us, you'll be fine. We won't let anyone laugh at you."

"Promise?"

"Of course!" Rosario chimed in. The three girls sat in silence and watched the other occupants of the pool as they went about their business. The water was cool and refreshing, making it so that no one really did want to move and simply take in the calming moment everything brought.

Just as Haruhi was beginning to relax, the children struck. Annje came over to the older girls, a strange girl sitting on the edge of her inner tube dressed in a sundress and a… really bad wig…?

"Who's your friend, Annje-chan?" Rosario asked.

"Oh, this is Reboko-chan!" Annje explained. "She says she knows the Vongola!"

"Do you now, little one?" Rosario bent down, very curious.

"Don't listen to it!" Hans called, splashing his way from the other side of the pool. "That's that stupid baby that tortures Eleventh!"

"Hans! Behave yourself!" Rosario scolded as she helped Reboko off the inner tube and onto the ledge of the pool. "So what do you know about the Vongola, hmm?" She sounded more amused than anything else. She was not amused, however, when Hans's splashing made a miniature tidal wave over her head, effectively drenching her in a shock of surprise.

"You meanie!" Annje yelled. "Why are you so mean? You should learn how to behave!" She took off her inner tube and began beating Hans with it. The older girls simply watched uncomfortably.

"Jeez… I wasn't _that_ irritated," Rosario said.

"I'm sorry for Annje-chan's behavior, Reboko," Saki apologized. "She normally isn't so violent."

"I think that can be solved," Reboko said. She took a purple bazooka out of seemingly nowhere and aimed it at Annje, who now was trying to climb up to Hans's shoulders. With a bang and a puff of smoke, the cannon fired and enveloped Annje in a puff of thick, foul-smelling smoke that spread over a decent portion of the pool.

When the smoke cleared, Reboko was nowhere to be seen. There was only Older Annje, who looked like she had been in the middle of trying on swimsuits herself, almost squishing Hans. The young boy flailed around under the water, half drowning, under the weight of Annje's eighteen-year-old… _assets_. The fact she was kneeling on his legs certainly did not help either.

"Oh! Het spijt! Sorry!" Older Annje said. She let Hans float to the surface and spit water from his mouth in a comical little fountain.

"Uh… this is one of those space-time continuum things… right…?" Saki asked, pointing at Older Annje.

"Just remember: total bull," Rosario replied. The woman blinked and suddenly noticed that Haruhi was not there next to her. She craned her neck and saw the teen stomping off in a towel, headed straight for the dressing rooms.

"Haruhi-chan! Where are you going?"

"Home!"

"…but we just got here!"

"I don't care!" Haruhi slammed the changing booth shut, making nearly everything in the pool rattle.

"She doesn't get any better," Older Annje whispered. "Don't do this again unless you value your lives."

"Noted," Saki replied.

* * *

A/N: Want to know the last chapter of Reborn I read? It had something to do with that kid from the other Mafia family trying to get revenge on Tsuna for something Tsuna didn't do and there was a misplaced note and stuff. So yeah… new readers, please forgive my lack of being up-to-date in all of the Reborn-verse tech. I probably won't be up-to-date for a long, long time. D:

Also, this is the chapter that made me derp-face long enough to temp-drop the story. Figures filler would foil my follies.


	21. Vacation Blues

**Notes**: So I've been reading up on the recent manga events in Reborn thanks to Wikia. Earth Flames? What. The. Frig. Something tells me that I might not be able to incorporate all this Shimon Family nonsense into the story. I could try… but it might bog some things down.

Oh, and I like this chapter much, much, much better than the last one. You have no idea. It has continuity. Yay continuity!

**Reviewer Shout-outs**: shinnifura-chan, Charpie, SniperKingSogeking0341 and Mythril Maiden! Thanks for reviewing everyone!

* * *

Chapter Sixteen

_Vacation Blues_

It was bright and sunny as Hana and Kiyohiko laid out on Waikiki Beach in sunny O'ahu, Hawai'i. The sand was warm and the breeze off the ocean was cool, making everything the right mixture of perfect. Adults and children alike ran about, playing volleyball, building sandcastles, catching some waves or simply relaxing like they were. It felt good.

"How that idiot uncle of yours hasn't talked me into this before is beyond me," Hana chuckled. She rolled over and let the sun warm her back. "Why did I always insist on Okinawa? Or Hokkaido? That one really baffles me now."

"Hey, our trip to Hokkaido was interesting," Kiyohiko replied.

"Yeah, but Hokkaido and Hawai'i are two very different places."

"…with very different perks. I wasn't in danger of being sunburned on Hokkaido."

"Oh, I don't know…" Hana's grin became almost cat-like in her smugness. She was comfortable and that was all that mattered, all other merits of all other places in the world aside. Even Japan was nothing in comparison, or at least she knew it would be until she was on the plane home. That was the point of a vacation, was it not?

"I wonder how Masaru-nii and Ryohei-oji are doing with their lessons," Kiyohiko wondered, staring out at the waves. He could not tell which figures out there were his cousin and uncle and which ones were not since everything was so far away.

"Don't be so worried," Hana said. She did not look, but could tell by the sound of Kiyohiko's voice that he was staring out at the waves nervously. "If I didn't learn to stop doing that, I'd have a whole head of grays by now."

"That's comforting." Kiyohiko sat up and hugged his knees as he watched the waves beat against the Waikiki shore.

It was true that this was his first time in Hawai'i, there was no denying that. He just did not feel completely at ease with it all. The Sasagawa-Kurokawa-Sawada family vacations were always something that he had to look forward to in the summer and he thought that this year, with the appearance of Reborn, that he would be denied this luxury. It would have been a luxury to go on a class trip to Kyoto without Reborn turning everything into a Mafia training exercise, let alone going all the way to Hawai'i. The only way it could have been even better, he thought, was if his parents were there. A real family vacation with all of them… no Mafia, Reborn or craziness… now that was something to imagine. He knew it would never happen, but he could always dream.

A few minutes later, Masaru came jogging up the beach with a large surfboard tucked underneath his arm. Both teen and the board were sopping wet, but only one was able to walk up with a toothy grin on his face.

"Come on Little Cousin, you gotta try surfing," Masaru smiled. "It's such an extreme thrill ride! Those pipes are amazing!"

"I think I'll pass—thanks."

"Masaru, move. You are standing in my sun, boy."

Masaru grinned at his stepmom and drove the end of his board into the sand so that its shadow covered part of Hana's legs and torso. After unclipping the tether from his ankle, he pulled Kiyohiko up by the shoulder and trotted off with his cousin in tow.

"What are we doing?" Kiyohiko asked.

"Getting a snack. Surfing sure does work up an extreme appetite!"

"What about your board? Your dad?"

"Dad's still out there pretending to be a surf king and my board will just annoy Hana-san in my place while we're gone. Don't worry Little Cousin; I got this."

Kiyohiko chuckled and walked along with Masaru until they got to a nearby stand where they each got a hot dog and can of pop. They found a nice piece of shade protecting a seawall where they sat down and ate happily. It did not last long though, as someone came up behind the cousins, tapping them on the shoulder for attention.

"Excuse me, but are you Kiyohiko Sawada and Masaru Sasagawa?" asked a sharp, curt voice in what sounded like native English. Kiyohiko and Masaru turned around to see a young woman standing behind them. She was dressed in a black unisex suit, wore sunglasses and had pulled her hair in a taut knot at the nape of her neck. The woman looked like an islander, but not of the tourist-guiding kind. She exuded all the force and authority of an agent from mainland America's central government or even worse—a member of the Mafia.

"Yes ma'am; is everything okay?" Kiyohiko responded. Masaru's English was not as practiced as his, so he stepped up as the speaker for the two.

"Everything is fine. I just need you to come with me."

"We don't want any trouble, five-oh," Masaru said in shaky English. Kiyohiko elbowed him so hard that Masaru fell off the sea wall and onto the beach.

"I'm sorry, but we would like to know why we are being summoned," the younger cousin said more fluently. He knew that just because this was American soil did not mean that the Mafia and yakuza were unable to stretch their long fingers all the way across the globe and over borders. One could never be too cautious, after all.

"The head of the CEDEF would like to have a word with you both," the mystery woman said. She handed Kiyohiko a piece of paper that had not only the familiar letterhead of the Vongola, but a note scrawled in handwriting that he knew.

Come with this woman, Kiyohiko-dono. Masaru-dono and you need to speak with me. Alone. Do not worry about your aunt and uncle—they are being informed as you read this. Trust me.

"Masaru-nii!" Kiyohiko called over the wall. "Get back up here!"

"What's the fuss about?" Masaru asked as he hopped back over the wall. Kiyohiko showed him the note and they looked at the woman in black.

"Mr. Basil is expecting you."

* * *

A short car ride later, Kiyohiko and Masaru found themselves in the driveway of a spacious seafront villa. The architecture was modeled after a generic Mediterranean seaside resort with plenty of Tuscany and Naples as the base design. Kiyohiko could only catch bits and pieces of the building's style before they were ushered in by a pair of men dressed exactly like their woman driver. From there, they went into a room where clean clothes were waiting for them in exactly their sizes. Although Masaru was reluctant to trade in his favorite swim trunks, they both changed and wandered out onto the veranda where Basil was waiting for them.

"Kiyohiko-dono! Masaru-dono! I am so glad that you made it!" the man said, opening his arms wide and taking both teens in for a hug at once. Kiyohiko remembered pictures from when his father was younger, when Tsuna and Basil were both young small and stick-like teens. Basil had long ago grown into adulthood a bit too awkwardly, still a lot of limb and fine features. His age showed in his face, which had become somewhat wrinkled with worry over the years, and his cut-short hair that was beginning to grey here and there with a patch that was beginning to look thinner than the rest. The last time either teen had seen Basil, they did not even reach his waist.

"It's been too long, Basil-san," Kiyohiko smiled. Long enough for the man's Japanese to modernize a little, but not long enough for the meeting to be awkward. "Please, what is it that you had to talk to us about while we are on vacation?"

"First, sit down," Basil smiled. There was a pair of couches on either side of a low-set table, where tea and cookies had been set out. "You will be better off sitting down to hear this news."

"Basil-san, is everything okay with Mom and Dad?"

"Of course, of course. They are perfectly alive, well and safe. Tsuna-dono and Kyoko-dono are actually in Aruba right now on a business-related holiday."

"Then why have us sit down?" Masaru asked.

"…because this is not exactly the easiest thing to do. It was not easy for your fathers and it will not be easy for you both now."

"Basil-san…?" Kiyohiko started. "What's wrong…?"

"That neither of you are in shape for your battles!" cried a squeaky, familiar voice. The cousins both bolted to their feet, not expecting to hear that voice halfway across the Pacific Ocean.

"I told you to stay quiet until I said, Reborn-san," Basil sighed. The infant, dressed in a loud flower-print shirt and cargo shorts in lieu of his usual suit, rappelled down from the rafters and landed with a soft thump on the couch next to the CEDEF agent.

"Then you should not have been dancing around the matter at hand," Reborn said. "Boys, sit down. This is important."

Kiyohiko and Masaru warily sat down. Three days ago, they had left Reborn at the airport with Haruhi and her mom. How could he be here?

"Kiyohiko-dono, I have something for you," Basil said. He pulled a wooden box out from under the table and set it down gently. Opening it, he revealed the seven slots that the teens knew could only be meant for the Vongola Rings. Five slots were empty, but the half-rings of the Sky and Sun were still nestled in place.

"That's part of Dad's ring…" Masaru gasped as he picked up half of the Sun Ring. "He never goes anywhere without this!"

"Now he shall and must," Basil replied. "It is time for Kiyohiko-dono and his Guardians to come together and fight for their rights as the true owners of the Vongola Rings. The current Vongola Guardians have their own rings of power and have sufficient replacement rings and weapons for the time being. What needs to happen now is your training."

"…but I was always told that the Cradle Affair was what caused the Varia and the Vongola Guardians to go to war in the first place!" Kiyohiko protested. "I am not going to risk the lives of my family and friends just because of the past generations' fight!"

"This is tradition, believe it or not," Reborn said. "The Cradle Affair did mess things up, certainly, but the truth be told: this is how the Guardians have been chosen and tested since before the Varia was called as such. At least, this is one of the options. Most of the other options call for civil cooperation, which is not the Varia's strongpoint."

"Where are the other Rings then?" Masaru asked. "Does Haruhi-chan have one? Saki-chan?"

"I'm not telling you who has a Ring and who does not; it will distract you from your training. You shall find that out soon enough." Reborn hopped onto the table and took a calendar out of his pocket, where a date two weeks from then was circled in red. "This is when you shall discover your second Guardian, Yohi, when the trials begin."

"I don't want any trials! The Varia is filled with disgusting, violent creatures that would rather kill me or anyone else on the spot than try to make a clean fight out of it!"

"…and Rosario-nee…" Masaru added.

"…but Rosario-nee is a girl and the normal one AND I wouldn't be fighting her anyways! Fausto can have the Sky Ring if that's what it takes to keep my friends safe!"

"That cannot happen, Kiyohiko-dono," Basil said. "Do you know the surname Xanxus-dono took for himself and his descendents when he cast away the Vongola name?"

"Esposito… and…? What of it?"

"It is the surname of vagabonds, foundlings and orphans, which is what he was. The only way the Sky Ring can be transferred over to someone who is not of Vongola blood is for it to be taken as the spoils of a true duel and Fausto Esposito knows this well. The Ring may have rejected his father but that does not mean that it will necessarily reject him."

"This is ridiculous…" Kiyohiko whined. He slouched in his seat and frowned. "I don't like this."

"Tsuna hasn't liked it from the moment he and his Guardians received their summons," Reborn said. "You were never meant to enjoy tradition, but merely respect it."

Kiyohiko groaned and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Tradition was big—bigger than he was; being both Japanese and Mafia taught him that. To whip out the tradition card was something akin to… oh, he did not know. It was like making an old man trade spots with you on the train because you were standing and wanted to sit down, or taking the home run ball from a little kid just because you were bigger and his dad was not looking. Well, not really, but defying tradition would be just about as bad. Spitting in the face of tradition was something that was never, ever, to be done.

"Fine. What do you need us to do?"

"Excellent! It's time to start training then!" sang a voice from inside the house. The teens turned around to see the Varia veteran Lussuria come out onto the deck, still defying many a social code with his wild hair, spandex shorts and a feather boa over his bare chest. Masaru sprang from his seat and ran over to hug his flamboyant godfather.

"Luss-oji! I haven't seen you in ages! What an extremely cool surprise! Does Dad know that you're here?"

"Nope! I'm here for you and you only, kid! Reborn called in a favor which I am more than happy to fulfill. I'm gonna be your tutor!"

"EXTREME!" Masaru cheered. "Does this mean you get to show me all those moves I wasn't allowed to know before because Hana-san said that our insurance is already too high?"

"You betcha! I'll have you breaking plates and chinaware before she knows it!"

Lussuria and Masaru laughed, their voices loud and booming. They almost skipped off together to destinations unknown but certainly filled with martial arts moves and uniquely nearly-manly things. Kiyohiko knew how much his cousin enjoyed the ever-bizarre company of the Varia man and was glad that at least Masaru had someone they had both trusted since childhood as his tutor. He turned back to Basil and Reborn.

"I guess you have another tutor lined up for me then, huh?" he asked as he took the Sky Ring out of the box. Kiyohiko examined it in the mid-afternoon light, keeping his face as expressionless as possible. This was not going to be fun, and he knew it.

"No. I am going to see your training through to the bitter end," Reborn said. He hopped onto the couch beside Kiyohiko and sat down. "You're going to need a lot of work."

"I'm not athletic and I'm not clever. There's nothing all that special about me. I thought you knew that."

"Then we must find a weapon suitable to your needs," the infant said. "Nothing that requires a lot of strength or skill; you still need to develop both, but you need something that can grow with you in time."

"How about some Boxes? I think my dad has a few that he's not using…"

"Box weapons are strictly forbidden," Basil interrupted. "You may use your Rings, conventional weaponry and weapons of your own design. Anything more would be a severe violation of the rules the Cervello put down and would result in immediate and dishonorable disqualification."

"So no Boxes?"

"None."

This was bad. No Box Animals? Kiyohiko could not even remember how many times his father's lion had saved him from certain death. He hoped with all his might that Annje did not get a Ring, or she would be completely lost without her unicorn. As a matter of fact, he hoped that Hans did not get a Ring either or Haruhi or Saki or Damiano… The young Vongola's mind swam in thought.

"Is everything alright, Kiyohiko-dono?" Basil asked.

"I have a question," Kiyohiko pondered. "Is Flame Attribute genetic? I know there's no Boxes allowed, but that won't stop anyone from using their Attribute to their advantage."

"Yes and no," Basil replied. "What we know of inheriting Flame Attributes is very erratic. Some people emulate their parents, as they are exact copies of the ones that came before them or come from a powerful bloodline. They can use the Flame for the same attacks, or create variations of them. Others may want to design themselves after another and may even forcibly change their Attribute. Many, as you might know, have the ability to tap into multiple Attributes, but only in limited amounts. Some people are even born with two conflicting main Attributes, like a roan-colored horse. Why do you ask?"

"When I was little, I remember Gokudera-san babysat all of us when Haruhi-san and Masaru-nii were staying over at our house in Italy. I mean, all of us were there, since there was an executive meeting all the Guardians had their children there. Hibari-san's son had stolen Lambo-nii's Ten Year Cannon and Haruhi-san got hit with it. Now I understand that it was her future self, but there's always been something that bothered me about it."

"What is that?" Reborn asked, sounding almost curious.

"Haruhi-san, the older one, had the Storm Ring."

"This bothers you because her father is a Rain Guardian," Basil assumed.

"Yes. From what I remember, it sounded like the Gokudera-san in her time line had not had met Daria-san and had Hans-kun, let alone any children. Even so, I would think that she would follow in her dad's footsteps."

"The future is not set in stone, Yohi," Reborn said. "That Haruhi was of a different dimension. She did not have the Mafia in her life as she does now—she could have developed differently. That is the problem with the Ten Year Cannon: it never does give us a good enough glimpse as to what is to come and what might never be."

"So, Haruhi-san might not even be a Guardian?"

"Haruhi is Haruhi and she is what she is. Respect that, no matter what. Respect your friends, family and Guardians, Yohi, for they are your greatest assets."

"You avoided my question."

"The thing is, Kiyohiko-dono, that we cannot tell you," Basil said. "Do not worry. Your father and I have picked the best possible candidates to be your Guardians. Just trust us. I know that things have not exactly been as you had hoped they would be, but life is rarely that way for any of us."

"Then it is settled; we start training immediately," Reborn said. He hopped off the table and over to the door to the house, where the woman who had brought Kiyohiko to the house was standing. The woman picked up the infant and they disappeared into the house.

"You ought to accompany them," Basil said. "Pepper does not like to dillydally."

"Thanks." Kiyohiko looked at the Ring on his hand and frowned. It was just too big to fit on his right index finger, so he knew he would have to find a chain for it in the time being. He gave Basil a small smile, hugged the man and then ran off to catch up with the infant Mafioso and their driver.

* * *

**A/N**: I can live my entire life without ever wanting to go to Hawai'i (I need my seasons to not be simply hot and hot/humid since I'm a cold-weather person), but I sure as hell do enjoy watching high-def episodes of Hawaii Five-0. That archipelago was created for the sole purpose of HDTV, I swear it.

Oh, and that bit about the Flame inheritance, I totally made up based on educated guesses. Basically Basil gave the long version of "Flame attribute is ultimately by choice, unless you're a Sky; then you're screwed". The Vongola Rings are also the half-rings now because, of, well, story purposes. Let's say that Tsuna resealed them or whatever rubbish was going on.


	22. Tutor Troubles

Notes: Who here agrees with me that Schnitten Brabanters is one of the most bad-ass names in the history of ever? I wouldn't name a kid that myself but DAYUM, that's a name to respect if you choose to rock it. I am impressed.

Reviewer Shout-outs: Sinsora and SniperKingSogeking0341.

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

_Tutor Troubles_

The cool, dead weight of the weapon was heavy in Kiyohiko's hand. He did not like it, but knew there was little time to search for an alternative for such short notice. After making sure his ear protectors were secure, he took aim and fired.

One, two, three, four, five, six; pop out the cartridge and slap in another. Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, done.

"Not bad Yohi," Reborn said as he brought in the paper target from the end of the shooting range. Kiyohiko was becoming more and more precise with his aim and for the past two days, had made definitive progress. He was glad that they were able to have the entire range to themselves, allowing for Kiyohiko to go through a wide variety of different guns. On the nearby table was cases filled with all sorts of different handguns, rifles and shotguns that the teen had been practicing with. Empty cases for ammunition lay strewn about everywhere and packaging for the bullets even had their own separate pile in a corner. All Kiyohiko knew was that Reborn was apparently owed a favor by the owner of the shooting range and it ended up being very convenient, since he did not even need to technically leave his Hawai'ian vacation to train.

"All in the bull's eye," the teen sighed. "I know it's alright for people in America to go to the gun range and carry these things around, but you have to remember that I live in Japan. Laws are stricter there you know. It could make all this training a waste."

"No, it will not. Just because America has different laws on guns does not make training here any different than it would be in Japan. Normal people on the street here still panic at the sight of a gun, just as they do in Namimori."

"…but still… do I _have_ to have a gun?"

"While you have no other weapon and such little time to learn? I may be the best tutor the Mafia has ever seen but I am not a miracle worker. You have nothing to build off other than the time you shot Moretti."

"That was when I was panicked, I thought my friends were in danger and Moretti is a professional at being assassinated!" Kiyohiko was not impressed with Reborn's logic, as they had gone over this conversation at least seventeen different times within the past couple of days. The only thing he had any chance of being impressed with was his own aim's improvement and nothing more.

"We are still building off it. If you want to find a different weapon after the Ring Battles, then we will do so. For now, we work on your marksmanship."

"Has anyone ever thought of using their words?" Kiyohiko asked sarcastically. Reborn made a disapproving noise and shook his head.

"Silly boy; words can only get you so far until you reach the barriers of language and emotion. Although language can be broken down and compromised, emotions tend to betray even the most steadfast of people… even your father."

"So you're saying my only solution is waving around a gun?"

"No; what I'm saying is that your only solution, at the moment, is your actions. It doesn't matter if you are holding a gun or wearing your father's gloves. If you cannot use diplomacy, you have to use actions. When you become old and powerful like the Tenth, you have more of a choice. Right now, it is my job to make sure you have the skills to reach the age where you have that choice. Now, put the gun back in its case."

Kiyohiko did as he was told and put the handgun back in its carrying case. With the cartridge out and the safety on, he carefully made sure it was secure and closed up the case. When he turned back around to face Reborn, he jumped in surprise. The infant was holding a handgun, a revolver at that, which bore the crest of the Vongola.

"Here. This is a special gun made especially for those using Flames as their ammunition. Now that you know how to properly aim with real bullets, you can graduate to these."

"Bullets out of my Dying Will Flame?" Kiyohiko marveled.

"Yes. In every shot must go your intent and convictions. Flame bullets don't behave like regular bullets. They can do a variety of things, including curve, harmlessly hit bystanders with no ill effects and even create an explosive force, the magnitude of which Japan does not wish to ever see again."

Kiyohiko gulped and stared warily at the weapon. He picked it up, holding it gingerly in his hands. It was a little heavier than the handgun he had just been shooting, which surprised him. The last time he had seen a gun like this, it was in a Western movie. It had a spinning bullet chamber and a hammer that had to be drawn back in order to fire. A Vongola crest was emblazoned on either side of the barrel and it was colored a vibrant shade of orange for the Sky Attribute, almost making it look like a toy. Kiyohiko held the gun in his right hand and extended his arm, aiming for one of the targets on the other side of the shooting range.

"Now imagine that the target is Fausto," Reborn said. "Try to imagine him wanting to come at you with the intention to kill. He will not stop until you are dead."

"My first instinct is to run and hide…"

"No!" Reborn hit Kiyohiko on the head, disappointed in his pupil. "Try to focus your energy inside the chamber of that gun. It is your want and need to stay alive and well. It is how you will see the next sunrise, where Haruhi will be waiting for you on the beach."

"…but Haruhi-san is my friend! Yeah, I like her and all, but her and I kind of grew up together. Wouldn't that be kinda weird…?"

"Ugh… this was so much easier with your father. He was pining after your mother before they were your age! He was brimming with awkward desire before I even met him!"

"Thanks, but I did not need to know that," Kiyohiko frowned. "I don't know if there is a girl that I like."

"Fine, then whatever boy you like."

"REBORN! WHAT THE HELL?"

"Just covering the bases." The infant smiled coyly, not caring about any boundaries. It was simply too much fun to mess with the future Eleventh Vongola, not to mention way easier than it should have been.

"Well for the record: I like girls. I just don't think that there is a singular girl that I like right now. You know, the haven't-met-the-right-one-yet thing…?"

"Sure, you limp noodle. Now let's get on with the lesson. Imagine someone who you care about then. It can be anyone you wish. They are in danger and cannot fight back and you've run out of real bullets. The only way you can fire that gun and save them is if you make a bullet out of your own soul. Are you following me?"

"Yeah… I think so…" Kiyohiko closed his eyes and concentrated. When he opened his eyes, he narrowed them into a stare. The young man took aim and pulled the trigger on the gun, hoping something would happen.

A brilliant orange blast came exploding out of the barrel of the gun, sending Kiyohiko toppling to the ground from the backfire. The far wall of the shooting range, right where the target had been, exploded in a bright blast of debris. Reborn clapped slowly in minimal approval.

"It's about time," he said. "Now, if we're going to get anywhere with that, we need to find you the proper motivation!"

"Motivation…?"

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Kiyohiko found himself in the middle of the Hawai'ian jungle. The lush rainforest was thick on all sides, making all sorts of noises that the made the young Vongola nervous. Reborn sat in a baby backpack on Kiyohiko's back, looking ahead of them with a bizarrely free-moving telescope.

"So can you please tell me what the purpose of this exercise is again…?" Kiyohiko asked. As he walked he gave one particular tree a wide berth, not exactly liking how the trunk slithered.

"Like I said before Yohi: you need proper motivation to get you going in the right direction. Do you know where we are right now?"

"It looks to me like the middle of nowhere."

"Wrong! We are in Haleakala National Park!"

"Haleakala…?" The teen thought for a moment, attempting to recall where the park was on the map at the hotel. "Isn't that supposed to be two islands over on Maui? The hotel and shooting range are on O'ahu."

"This shows what you know. Now, I've let loose a couple of different animals throughout the park using a remote latch on the cages. It is your job to find them all and terminate them before they attack any tourists, let alone us. They are all rabid to some degree, so we can't get even one scratch."

"That won't be hard, considering how much I take out with one bullet."

"Did I mention that we have to dodge other tourists, the park rangers, Department of Wildlife, a special ops team designed to comb the jungle terrain and that purposely destroying a national preserve by explosives or releasing rabid animals is a felony crime?"

"F-f-f-felon-ny…?"

"Over five years in prison, at least. You really don't want to miss high school graduation because you were stuck in the American legal system, do you?"

Kiyohiko gulped and began to take off at a sprint. Before long, a huge python that was too large to be of anything but B-movie origin sprang out of the woods to take a large chunk out of him. The teenager panicked and let a blast out of the revolver that was a bit too loud and a bit too big for his liking, as there was an echo as the python's head exploded in a disgusting mess of guts and brains. A large number twenty-right was painted on the side of the python's midsection.

"Twenty-eight? How high do these numbers go anyway?"

"To thirty."

Reborn smiled as he tagged along for the ride, a symphony of bullets and cursing to make the training a bit more interesting.

* * *

It was almost dusk as Kiyohiko crouched down low in the underbrush. He was unsure of how long he had been out in the jungle, but what he did know was that he had six more animals to go. Number Nineteen was sitting in front of him only a few metres upwind of him. It was a wild boar of massive proportions, almost coming up to his shoulders at the haunches. He took careful aim with the Flame gun and pulled the trigger. A dainty _pew_ sound came out of the gun and an orange dot hit the boar right between its eyes. The animal staggered, foamed at the mouth and collapsed onto the ground dead.

"Alright… five more to go," Kiyohiko sighed. He wiped his brow with his sleeve and looked down at his list. He had found a receipt in his pocket from when he and Masaru had lunch before meeting Basil and a pen in his pocket, so he was keeping tally of the animals that were left to find. He scratched off the number nineteen from the list and gave it a good look-over. Six, twelve, thirteen, twenty-one and twenty-nine were still out there and he needed to find them, fast. He did not have a flashlight on him and knew he would easily get lost in the mountainous expanse of the park without one.

"Five, did you say?" Reborn asked. Kiyohiko rolled his eyes, for it was the first thing the infant hitman had said in over an hour.

"Yeah. While you've been sleeping back there, I got two boars and a tiger thank you very much."

"Good, good. This means you are now able to quietly and discreetly fire your weapon. I do believe that we are done here for the day. Let's go back to the hotel; I'm starved."

"What do you mean? There's still five more left to go!"

"Numbers Six, Twelve, Thirteen, Twenty-One and Twenty-Nine?"

"Yeah… how did you…?"

"There are no animals out here by those numbers. You had asked me to what number the animals went. What you failed to ask was which numbers were on the animals to begin with," Reborn said smugly. "You pass today's test, but just barely." Kiyohiko's knees began to buckle and he leaned against the nearest tree.

There were no animals with those numbers out there.

He skipped six numbers.

He had been looking for animals that did not exist.

"Remind me to throw you out the emergency hatch on the plane ride back home," Kiyohiko grumbled. "All this time I was searching for creatures that didn't exist…? This is so not worth it."

* * *

Back at the hotel, Ryohei and Hana were returning from an extended, and very late, dinner when they noticed something was odd about their room door—it was open a crack. Ryohei had Hana stay by the stairwell as he silently took the handgun from his shoulder holster and prepared himself to check out the room. He reached with his Flame to sense for traps and found none, so he kicked open the door with his gun raised and brow furrowed. It was a shame he was not allowed to use his Flame weapons on holiday.

To the man's surprise, there was absolutely nothing amiss. His son and nephew were both sprawled over one of the beds in a dead sleep. Both of the teenagers looked filthy, as if they had been traipsing about in a jungle marsh the entire day. Reborn and Lussuria, clean and presentable, were up playing a game of cards on the table that had not been invaded by empty Chinese takeaway boxes.

"Oh, it's just you two," he said, lowering his gun. "I was extremely freaked out there for a second. I thought there had been a security breach."

"Nope, just us tutors winding down after an exhausting day of training," Lussuria nearly sang. "Those boys of yours are just so rambunctious that I don't know _how_ you and Hana-chan do it twenty-four seven."

"It helps that Tsuna sends me away half the time," Ryohei laughed. Hana, upon hearing the laughter, poked her head in the doorway and saw there was nothing to fear. She walked in and placed her purse down on a countertop.

"You boys, I swear…" she sighed upon seeing the mess that was the hotel room. The mess meant that they worked hard and for that, she could forgive them.

* * *

A/N: Reborn doesn't know American laws and the judicial system; he totally made up the sentence off the top of his head for the sake of scaring Kiyohiko. It's true that what they were doing wouldn't be exactly welcomed, but a full-blown felony? I'd have to do more research than I care to do. It's times like this where I'm glad that Reborn, being Mafia, adheres to no law but Vongola law.


	23. Interlude V

Notes: No Annje-Annje Interview this time around, but our hero whining like the teenager he is. I think someone who isn't Reborn needs to tell Yohi-kun to get over himself. This chapter also marks the 50,000th word in-story!

Reviewer Shout-out: Charpie! Thanks very much for bothering with a review!

* * *

Interlude V

Sometimes, I think about the little what-ifs in life. It's not really good to dwell on them (and Ryohei-oji makes sure I know this fact at least twice a month), but sometimes I just can't help it. A lot of things have happened to me over the years and a lot of it happens to make me think long and hard.

Ha, yeah, I probably sounded really old there, huh? The most people my age contemplate is what it would have been like had they had the guts to ask out that student the year above them before graduation and they left for a different school, but not me. Pretty girls and good grades are the least of my worries. Growing up in the Mafia… it's given me a lot more interesting things to ponder.

Like, what would my life have been like if I never came to Japan to try to seek a normal life? What would life had been like had my father's world, the one of—let's face it—organized crime, not followed me? Would things have been different had I gone to a different school, made different friends? Hell… what would it have been like had I grown up with an older brother or sister who could bear the brunt of tradition instead of me? Rosario-nee has Andrea-nii to do that for her. My older cousin is on the wrong side of the family to pass the natto on and there's certainly no one younger I can abdicate to. I'm caught with my hands tied, it seems.

I don't like this and I probably never will like this. I don't like putting my friends in danger, but the choice doesn't seem to be my own, nor has it ever been my own. Before Reborn came into my life, I was normal. We were normal. Sure Masaru-nii and Haruhi-san weren't exactly the most discreet people in the universe, but that was alright because we still could be considered normal. I could handle it. Now… I don't know if we can anymore.

The Varia… I don't want to fight the Varia. The people in there are nine different kinds of crazy before breakfast alone and I certainly don't want to have to tangle with them. I don't want to fight Fausto or my friends to fight any of his crazy groupies. Even Rosario-nee, as kind and friendly as she is, would still kill for him. People like that shouldn't be let loose on a bunch of kids, and that's all we are. Unless Dad, Reborn and Basil-san found some people I don't know about, we range in age from sixteen to eight with varying degrees of competency. Some had no idea that there was even a Mafia or that I was part of it this time last year. I wish I could tell my dad to leave me out of this.

This… this stuff that Reborn has me doing… I don't like it. I don't like guns—I never have, since I was a little kid. I watched too many people die from gunshot wounds as a kid, including my favorite sitter. He wasn't much older than I am right now when he was put in charge of me for a couple of months. It ended up killing him in the end. I wonder what he would have had to say about all of this. He taught me a lot about how to treat people; that you should never make people do anything that you wouldn't do yourself. Cherish the friends you have, because they may be gone tomorrow. Enjoy being young, because there will come a day when you are no longer free from the responsibilities of an adult. He was the only man I knew in my father's guard that never carried a gun, even as a back-up like Ryohei-oji. He relied on his sheer strength and willpower alone, which was enough for me.

At this point, I'm just rambling… thinking about what-ifs for too long again. In fact, I've probably said things that would make people question if I really knew what I was talking about… like I care. If I could have found someone else to take my place, someone who was actually more Italian than a sixty-fourth or whatever the hell I am, then I think I'd have gone to Canada after I finished school. Since I'm fluent in English, as well as a couple other languages, I could work as a translator, or middle management somewhere, find a nice girl to settle down with and be just that Asian guy in the neighborhood who is nothing special. I could drop everything about me and start anew; I hear nice things about Vancouver. Yeah… I think Vancouver. I've thought about other places and the United States has too many stars in their eyes when they think of the Mafia (thanks to books and movies that romanticize it all, so it's not entirely their fault) and the United Kingdom is too physically close to Italy for my liking (making it not their fault either and ruling out the rest of Europe as well). They are still nice places, of course, and I don't mind them but I want to be as far away as I possibly can be from all of this Mafia madness. Jack-san and I could even be roommates if his baseball thing doesn't work out.

What if I never came to possess the Sky Ring, the one I hold in my hand? What if my dad had just been an average Japanese man, going to work every day on the train and coming home every night after a long day at the office? What if I saw my parents every day as we did our best to struggle through life as many other families do? What would happen if I could run? What would happen if I did run, despite not being allowed to? Who could take my place if I didn't want all this? What horrible things am I going to be forced to do within the coming months, let alone years?

There is no one else, no other decision-maker to lean on… there is just me. I can't stop my friends from laying down their lives and wellbeing if they were the ones chosen for this ridiculous blood-sport. It hurts so much to watch them risk everything for me, becoming my Family and doing so many crazy things as such. They could have brilliant careers in sports or business or whatever they want to do, but they'll choose me in the end. I don't even know if my friends are my Guardians or not and I know they would take the job in a heartbeat.

Masaru-nii and I leave to go back to Japan tomorrow. I need to talk to everyone at lunch on Monday while we're in school and try to convince them to not get any more wrapped up in this than they already are. It'll be hard, but they mustn't do this. They will not sacrifice themselves for my sake.

…because, what if this becomes the ultimate sacrifice?

* * *

A/N: Kiyohiko's one of those people who would take the thought of alternate realities to the utmost extreme when it comes to what could seem like a very minor decision on one person's part. I don't think he also did much research into the fact that there is a significant-enough Japanese presence in Vancouver to elicit a percentage in the demographics census… as well as a lot of sushi restaurants. The Yamamotos would feel at home, at least.

Oh, and a note for all those who archive chapters (because I know I do), it looks like the website killed my typed-in divider lines, so I went through and placed in proper lines a little while back. It looks much nicer and eases reading, I think.


	24. Rage Before the Storm

Notes: Okay, you guys deserve a proper chapter and not one that's purely Kiyohiko being whiny. So, instead, you get a TRANSITORY CHAPTER! YAY! This thing took a long time to get right.

Reviewer Shout-outs: None, because no one could even be bothered with scathing remarks against our hero. Meh.

* * *

Chapter Eighteen

_Rage Before the Storm_

The Monday after returning to Japan, Kiyohiko got ready for school in silence. That Friday was the day he would learn who the rest of his Guardians were and the first of the Ring Battles. It filled him with dread to think about the entire situation, and the only things that made him feel worse was putting an ankle holster on for his Flame gun and the fact that Reborn was nowhere to be seen. The hitman said that he needed to do some "errands" before the Ring Battles began and vanished without another word, saying that Kiyohiko could practice at his own pace. This made Kiyohiko uneasy and dreaded what was to come. Down the hall Masaru was just as quiet, but in a different way. He was on-edge and excited, ready to face the dangers that lay ahead but unable to admit it else worry his cousin.

"Sawada, Sasagawa, would you know where your friends are today?" the teacher asked as the cousins walked into their classroom. School had not started yet, but it was well past the time when Haruhi, Damiano, Hans and even Saki should have been there. Instead their seats were empty.

"Uh, we've been on vacation so we don't know where they've been," Masaru explained. "They might've all gone out to eat somewhere while we were gone and got sick off something."

"Honestly, sir, I wish we did know where they were," Kiyohiko said. The teacher simply nodded in response and bade them to sit down.

"This is extremely weird," Masaru said as they took their seats. The mass of empty desks around them made him feel exposed and vulnerable.

"Yeah, really weird," Kiyohiko agreed. "We don't even know if they're all out because of the Ring Battles or not! Heck, we don't even know what Flame Attributes they posses!"

"Well, let's lie low and go look for them after school."

"Good idea, Masaru-nii. Maybe Annje-chan has an idea as to where they are."

Much to their dismay, neither Kiyohiko nor Masaru could find any of their friends after school. The apartment where Damiano and Annje were staying lay empty, Saki's cousin said she was away and even Mrs. Yamamoto, the one who they could always count on for a straight answer in times of a Haruhi-less crisis, said she had no idea where Hans and her daughter were. The search took all afternoon and did not even end with a lead.

"This scares me," Kiyohiko admitted over dinner. Ryohei was on assignment for the Vongola, which meant that it was just the two teenagers and Hana. "What if they're all off training to fight in the Ring Battles?"

"What I think what you're missing is the fact that they could have turned down the offer of being a Guardian," Hana explained. Her voice sounded somewhere between tense and almost melancholic. "I remember your dad telling me that all his Guardians protect him and work with him out of their own free will. This is their choice to make, not yours."

"…but Hans-kun and Annje-chan are little kids! They can't possibly decide their futures now! When I was eight years old, I wanted to be Doraemon!"

"…and I wanted to be an athletic trainer. See how extremely well that turned out, Little Cousin?" Masaru replied. "We're fine; don't worry. You've been worrying, haven't you?"

"I can't help but worry!"

"Well, you've got nothing to worry about! We'll be fine!"

"Just because our dads ended up fine doesn't mean that we will too!"

"…and arguing like this is going to do nothing for either of you," Hana snapped. "Now eat your dinner."

"Hana-san, what's it like when Ryohei-oji goes on missions for my dad? I bet it's never very fun, wondering whether or not he's going to come home."

"I don't want to talk about this. Ryohei is a big boy and he knows what he's getting himself into. He does what's best and that's all. You know that more than anyone does Tsuna…"

Kiyohiko dropped his chopsticks and stared at his aunt, who realized her slip the second she closed her mouth. Hana gasped and covered her mouth, but it was too late. Biting his bottom lip, Kiyohiko silently stood up from the table and climbed the stairs to his room. He slammed the door and limply collapsed onto his bed, wishing he could cry himself to sleep.

It was in this manner that the rest of the week passed: empty desks, not-so-empty words and empty stomachs after a lost appetite. Tension in the Sasagawa-Kurokawa-Sawada residence permeated the air with a sick, foreboding presence. The cousins still practiced on their own every night after school and wondered about what was to come. It was the longest, slowest-moving week either of them had ever experienced.

* * *

Finally, after forever, eternity and an extra day for good measure, it was Friday night. After a quick dinner of toast and a banana, Kiyohiko put his ankle holster on under his pant leg and walked with Masaru over to the designated Battle arena. The night was moonless from increasing cloud cover and a cold breeze sent a chill down the cousins' spines. Namimori High was eerily silent as they walked over the grounds, making their way to the courtyard.

There, standing haughtily, stood the Varia, waiting for the fun to begin. Kiyohiko recognized only three: the kind-faced Rosario, the cold, fashionably-dressed Foschia and the cruel Fausto. The other four were unrecognizable, for Kiyohiko made it a point of keeping out of Varia affairs. They seemed large and menacing to the young man, knowing that the rest of them had cleared adulthood while he was still growing. Near them were two young women dressed alike, who were assumed to be the Cervello, and Reborn. There was neither sight nor sound of any of the Namimori Regulars.

"Yohi, Masaru, how good of you both to make it," Reborn smiled. "Now we can proceed with the negotiations."

"Do let's," Fausto grumbled. The man glared at Kiyohiko, the young squirt that was supposed to fight him in battle. The five years that separated them age-wise had made a big difference, allowing him to become taller and broader with toned muscles under his suit that showed his more immediate European heritage and a semblance of a training regimen. The boy before him—who was for sure still a boy—was tiny and stick-like with little discipline in the martial arts and at a disadvantage for being too naturally petite like his mother. This was really the grandson of Sawada Iemetsu, the Lion of the Vongola and one of the few, despite being in his sixties, able to take him on in hand-to-hand combat? He had met men before half his size who could rip the child in half without breaking a sweat and he thusly wondered how well his conscious would take pummeling him into a pulp.

"Fausto Esposito and Kiyohiko Sawada, you are the team leaders in this series of matches," one of the Cervello women said, stepping forward. "With these matches, we are to see who may be fit to lead the Vongola Famiglia and who may be fit to merely follow. We have been sent by the joint decision of the Vongola Dicesimo, the leader of the Varia and their advisor from the CEDEF. Are you willing to accept the terms and conditions that we lay down as the third party and lead your team accordingly?"

"Y-yes," Kiyohiko gulped.

"Whatever," Fausto shrugged.

"Please, put out your right hands," the other Cervello woman said. Kiyohiko and Fausto did, and the woman stepped over so she was standing between them. A Ring on her finger glowed as she held her hand above theirs. A moment later, their hands were enveloped in a white light that burned hot for a split second before dying down into nothingness.

"The contract is set by the rules given by the CEDEF, most of which you should have already been briefed on. In one hour, your Storm Guardians must be in the gymnasium, ready for their fight. It is to be a traditional dress duel with their weapons of choice."

"…but my Storm Guardian isn't even here!"

"Then it looks like you have a problem, _ingane_!" one of the Varia members grinned. Kiyohiko shrank back in fear, not knowing what to make of him. The Varia man had dark skin and a heavy accent, both African from what the teen could tell, morbidly punctuated by a gleaming white smile that could only have been described as sinister. He was dressed in a safari shirt, shorts and rugged hiking boots; the entire ensemble only appeared ominous due to the large hunting knife strapped to his side. The man took a step towards Kiyohiko, but Fausto put up a hand, signaling him to stop.

"Save it for your fight," Fausto said. The man obeyed, but still fingered the knife on his belt.

Kiyohiko looked at the other Varia members to get a better notion of who they were. To the right of Fausto was a tall, broad man, from mainland Asia from what he could figure, dressed in thick animal hides and fabrics that seemed almost unnatural in the late-summer heat even for the cooler night hours. He had a bow and quiver of arrows slung across his back. At Fausto's left stood men that looked like a dark-skinned Bruce Lee, dressed in only the pants of karate gi, and a tall and scraggly but menacing European dressed like a car mechanic. The four nameless Varia members stared at Kiyohiko, all seeming like they were trying to decide how to size him up.

"What's the matter, twerp? Scared?" Foschia asked. Kiyohiko shrunk back a little, knowing that she could have ground him into the dust in a flash. Foschia was dressed brightly and looked like a fairly normal teenage girl, but the young Vongola knew that underneath the face that so resembled her mother and brother's was a cruel, twisted creature that definitely used the trident in her hand for more than just fishing.

"Varia, move out!" Rosario ordered before things could get out of hand. She gave Kiyohiko and Masaru apologetic looks as she went by. The Cervello left as well and before long, it was just the two teens and Reborn standing in the courtyard.

"So you have no idea who is going to be your Storm Guardian, do you?" Reborn chuckled. Kiyohiko plopped down to the ground and groaned.

"I'm assuming it's going to be Hans-kun, since his dad is my dad's Storm Guardian."

"You're thinking the little brat too?" Masaru asked as he sat down next to his cousin.

"Yeah. Did you see those guys? They've all got to be a couple years older than Fausto is. Hans-kun can't fight someone three times his own age! He has to withdraw."

"You know he won't. He wants to show off for you Little Cousin."

"Then I'll order him to withdraw. He'll listen to me."

"Are you sure?"

"No, but I have to trust that he will."

* * *

Slowly, the hour began to close in on them. Kiyohiko curled up underneath an elm tree that sat outside the gymnasium, wishing he could wake up from the nightmare. Unable to console him, Masaru went inside the building and waited, wondering when the Storm Guardian was going to show up. The wind was beginning to pick up, which did not sit well with him

"O-nii-san! O-nii-san!" called a pint-sized voice. Masaru stood up and spun around to see Annje and Damiano running towards him. The little girl jumped into his arms and clung tightly, showing how truly scared she was about the situation at hand. Masaru let her stay, but noted in the back of his brain how if she tried to do this on normal circumstances, he was dropping her.

"Man, you don't know how glad I am to see you guys," he said.

"Extremely?" Damiano smiled. His smile did not stay for long though, for there were more pressing matters at hand. "I'm sorry we're late, but we were all held up in getting here. Annje and I saw Don Yohi outside, but he didn't respond when we tried talking to him. Do you know what's wrong?"

"It's not good," Masaru replied. "I've only seen him like this one other time, and that was when we were little. He's extremely depressed about these Ring Battles right now, so depressed that he's almost catatonic… at least that's what Hana-san calls it. If anything happened to any of us, he wouldn't know what to do with himself."

"That's one of the marks of a true leader—to be concerned about those who follow him. The Storm's getting ready for the fight right now, so we should get Don Yohi in here."

"Okay. So, is the Storm Guardian the German brat?"

"We were sworn not to confirm nor deny until the competition begins," Damiano replied. "I'm sorry, but that is what it is." Masaru nodded knowingly, resigning himself to the fact he would figure it all out in a few minutes anyway.

It took some maneuvering and a little help from Annje with the doors but Masaru and Damiano were able to bring Kiyohiko into the gymnasium and set him onto the bleachers. From where they were at, they overlooked a pit in the center of the floor that covered almost the rest of the floor space. Someone had placed rocks there to give the area more elevation and obstacles. The roof had been retracted back to reveal that the clouds from before were becoming restless; wind already began to whip inside the gymnasium. To the surprise of the present members of the Namimori Regulars, the Varia was already seated on the other side of the court. They all seemed to be nonchalant and relaxed, except for Rosario. She was straight-backed and stared silently in thought at the dark-skinned Varia member from before as he took his place on the court.

He stood at the top of the fake rock formation, posed dramatically with an arrogant smirk on his face. The man was now dressed in a corded skirt and a fur pelt and was decorated in feathers, animal-tooth necklaces and red war-paint. He held a short spear in his right hand, a full-sized cowhide shield in the left, while a short sword was strapped to his back and a large knife lay at his hip. Damiano and Masaru were not sure whether to feel intimidated by the immense presence he brought to the room or embarrassed for the fact he looked like an etching of African warriors from back when they were referred to as savages from colonies.

"Why is that man dressed in a skirt?" Annje asked.

"That must be his traditional dress," Damiano explained.

"Yeah, but does that have to mean a dress? Annje doesn't think that's very nice."

"Something tells me that he takes more pride in it than you'd think," Masaru said. He had only just gotten the words out of his mouth when Reborn walked into view.

"You are right, for once, Masaru," the infant said. "That is Shaka, one of the Varia's most vicious members. He threw away his childhood name and has tried to become the spiritual and physical embodiment of the famous Zulu king. He takes his heritage very seriously where a lot of young people his age don't even care in the slightest."

"Don't you think he's overdoing it?"

"Of course not, Damiano, at least in his eyes. He is exactly what Fausto wanted when he began to gather his personal guard years ago: fierce, dedicated, motivated, and most of all, skilled. Fausto takes them where and when he can, no matter how they may make him look at first glance. I think you would be surprised at the Varia quality when all is said and done."

It was then that the Cervello made their way to the centre of the court. The timer on the scoreboard started blinking at two minutes, slowly making its way down to the start time.

"Uh-oh…" Damiano said.

"What uh-oh?" Masaru asked.

"If our Storm's not out here before the time on the scoreboard's up, we'll be disqualified and the match will instantly go to the Varia."

"Let them win. I don't want anyone facing him," Kiyohiko muttered weakly.

"Eleventh! Eleventh! Where are you?" Hans shouted from the other side of the gymnasium. The boy had to maneuver past the makeshift field to get to where the rest of the Namimori Regulars were located. Kiyohiko jumped up as soon as he heard Hans's voice. There was less than a minute to go on the clock; he had to act fast.

"Hans Elsner, I order you to back down from this fight immediately. I know that you want to follow in your father's footsteps but that doesn't mean getting cut to ribbons by some maniac with the next closest thing to a license to kill." Kiyohiko took Hans by the shoulders and gave him a light shake for good measure.

"…but Eleventh… I'm not fighting in this Battle."

Kiyohiko looked down at Hans's clothes. It was true—the boy was dressed as he normally was after school with clothes that looked like they had not even seen a storefront mannequin. Twenty seconds.

"Well then if you're here, then who's fighting in the Storm Battle?"

The clock froze at the eleven-second mark as a set of doors flung open. A figure dressed in karate gi walked in followed by one decked out in a light ronin's regalia. The ronin drew a sword which gleamed ominously in a flash of lightning.

"Don't even think about starting this show without me," Haruhi grinned. Shaka cackled in excitement.

"Don't worry, _itshitshi_! The fun's only just begun!"

* * *

A/N: The Varia here is not the higher-ups, as Xanxus and his psychos were (and still are in this continuity). Instead, this is a brute squad composed of the best fighters Xanxus's son could find. Being as the Varia is, well, the Varia, you can be assured that they're all excellent, no matter what.

Yes, they are a pack of Multinational Psycho Rangers. Strap on in kids; it's gonna be one hell of a ride.

Oh, and Haruhi was meant to be the Storm Guardian from Day One. I didn't tell anyone because I love reading speculation. It's highly amusing, particularly when people decide to get creative. It's that kind of stuff that I wouldn't trade for anything.

Translations: _Ingane_ and _itshitshi_ mean "child" and "little girl" in Zulu, respectively.


	25. Battle Tenancy

Notes: This chapter took forever thanks to researching fighting styles/moves and just being busy in general. I'm going to have a mass amount of translations at the bottom of the page, just as a warning.

Reviewer Shout-outs: none, again. I would really appreciate some input, guys. Good? Bad? Okay? Come on and work with me here. Please? You're seriously bumming me out.

* * *

Chapter Nineteen

_Battle Tenancy_

Saki ran up the stairs into the bleachers as quickly as she could. She looked exhausted, as if she had ran half a marathon before showing up. Bruises splotched her face and adorned what part of her arms and legs her friends could see poking out from under her karate gi. She looked awful, but seemed to happily collapse on a bleacher bench.

"Saki-san! What happened to you?" Kiyohiko gasped. Saki simply chuckled, tilting her head back to smile at her friends.

"Martial arts tournament over break," she grinned. "Got the tar beaten out of me, but at least I took second place!"

"Second place? How many people were in the tournament?" Masaru asked.

"There was hundreds of people there!" Annje exclaimed. "Annje went too! Haruhi-nee, Damiano-nii and Annje went to keep her company! It was fun! Annje even found some people to speak Dutch to!"

"It was just a little thing… nothing big…" Damiano said, covering the child's mouth.

"Little _international_ thing, you mean," Saki interjected. "Some guy Yama-chan knows, a Mochida-san, came along… he talked with Yama-chan a lot and sparred almost constantly with her." Kiyohiko swallowed some air—he knew Mochida as a Vongola subordinate and one of Yamamoto Takeshi's top men. Still… it felt odd to him that her tutor was someone other than her father.

"We are here to oversee the battle for the Vongola Storm Ring," one of the Cervello women said, drawing attention back down to the battlefield. "The rules are simple: using only traditional weaponry and armor, the contestants will fight until one is incapacitated from either wound or death. Weapons and attacks may be supplemented with Dying Will Flames. The environment of the match gives plenty of high and low ground to be used to the participants' advantage. Storm Guardians are some of the most destructive individuals, so this is their chance to prove how fierce they can be when stripped to the bare minimum."

"Bare minimum? Our idiot's actually wearing armor! Shouldn't that weigh her down?" Hans asked, referring to the breastplate, shoulder guards and leg protectors Haruhi wore. Kiyohiko covered his mouth and watched silently.

"The Storm Ring Battle between Shaka Superbia and Yamamoto Haruhi will now begin!" The electronic scoreboard buzzer cut through the air, signaling the start of the match. Both contestants remained still, seemingly sizing one another up.

"Wait… Superbia…? As in Signore Squalo?" Damiano asked, half in shock. The young man nearly fell down at the very notion.

"Correct," Reborn affirmed as a bolt of lightning lit up the sky. "Shaka's father was a sub-par swordsman in his native South Africa. When Squalo killed his father before his eyes, instead of vowing to exact revenge he decided to throw away everything to follow in the Varia's footsteps and become just as fearsome of a killer. It took years of tailing Squalo, but eventually the man took him on as a pupil in the art of assassination." Rain began to pour into the gaping hole in the ceiling, falling on the battlefield.

"Who are you talking about?" Annje asked. She pulled on Masaru's sleeve in worry. "Should Annje know who these people are?"

"Trust us when we say that you don't want to know who they are, nor should you need to," Kiyohiko explained. He had heard rumors of Superbia Squalo taking in a murderous ward, but he did not think that the man had the capability to raise any child, even one destined to become an assassin. The fact that Haruhi was fighting Squalo's foster son to start the competition off meant that this was working up to become quite the tournament right out of the gate.

Back on the field, Shaka was beginning to grow impatient. "Are you scared, _itshitshi_?" he bellowed with the wind. "Make a move! I don't give rocks as to what you do, because any move you do make might be your last!"

"You talk big for a man in a skirt!" Haruhi smiled. Her face was illuminated from the gymnasium light glinting off her sword, showing her Yamamoto-patented smile. She looked over at her friends in the stands and waved. "Hi everyone! Yohi-kun! Look at what Mochida-san taught me how to do! He said jii-chan taught him!"

It was while Haruhi was waving that Shaka decided to make the first move. He jumped from his perch and hurled himself at the distracted teenager. It only gave Haruhi a split second to react, resulting in a dodge that almost did not make it. She hopped to the side and almost dropped her sword in the surprise.

"_Shajiku no Ame_!" she shouted, making her own charge at Shaka. The man quickly dropped his spear and drew the sword on his back to deliver a parry. He chuckled as they stood there, locked in combat.

"Haw! What is this? That 'seizure sound rye-you' crap I keep on hearing about?" Shaka laughed. "You're gonna be dead in five minutes."

"No chance. This sword is flawless," Haruhi grinned. Shaka shoved her down into the dirt and bounded backwards, creating about ten metres worth of space between them.

"Oh no…" Damiano whispered to himself. It was just loud enough for the others around him to hear, which alerted their attention.

"What is it?" Saki asked.

"Signore Squalo must have taught him all about the Shigure Souen Ryu," Damiano replied. "He and Signore Yamamoto were always sparring together."

"Oh no… you're right…" Kiyohiko agreed, his face blanched. "Haruhi-san's dad probably would have even shown him the style himself, if he asked."

"_Zanna di Squalo_!" Shaka roared as he charged again. He had dropped his shield in favor of his knife, using both to stab in the air in front of him. Haruhi fell to one knee and thrust up with her sword, catching a puddle of rainwater in the process.

"_Sakamaku Ame_!" The water shielded her long enough to dodge the attack. Moving quickly, she went to Shaka's side and struck. "_Shinotsuku Ame_!" She twirled in place and slashed out at Shaka, who caught the tip of the sword against his exposed side. He bled thinly from the nick, irritating him more than anything.

"What is this, a Rain Ring battle?" he spat. "I don't want to see a damn thing that idiot father of yours can do! He was the one who sealed your fate by teaching me all of it! I know your every move!"

"Dad taught you Shigure Souen Ryu?" Haruhi asked, her voice small. She suddenly felt the coldness of the rain as it poured down her face and her smile thinned into a straight line.

"Of course; I know it all. One time was all it took. '_Samidare'_, '_Yarazu no Ame_'"… face it brat; you're out of ideas."

"…but Shigure Souen Ryu is a flawless style, my jii-chan's style."

"Haruhi-san! Don't be afraid to forfeit! If you can't win, I don't blame you!" Kiyohiko shouted. "You tried your best and that's what matters!"

"Yohi-kun, you know that anything jii-chan says is true and he told me that about the sword himself! Shigure Souen Ryu is flawless and unbeatable!" Haruhi replied, not taking her eyes off Shaka.

"…but you'll die!"

"No I won't! I promise!"

"Pretty lofty goals, _itshitshi_," Shaka chuckled. In one fluid motion, he kicked up the spear he had left on the ground and sent it hurtling towards Haruhi. The young woman ducked, but not in time to spare her armor. Before Haruhi knew it, she was pinned to a rock formation behind her, held in place by the spear that was now lodged in a shoulder guard.

"Haruhi-san!" Kiyohiko cried. He stood up quickly to go help her, but was grabbed by the shoulders.

"You can't do that, Don Yohi," Damiano said. "If you enter the battle area, Signorina Haruhi and you both will be disqualified."

"…but…!" Kiyohiko looked on in horror as Haruhi tried to wriggle out of her armor. The straps were heavy and difficult to manage in the rain, leaving her only a small space to move in.

"Your precious sword style can't save you now," Shaka chuckled. He began the slow walk over to the panicking teenager, thunder and lightning punctuating the sky with a blinding, resounding crash. Shaka drew his knife up, getting ready to deliver the decisive blow.

"_Jouhatsu Kumo_!" Haruhi shouted, kicking at the mud at her feet. Instantly, a screen of mud and fresh dirt flew up, creating a sickly looking cloud of wet, violet-tinted earth that enveloped both fighters in an instant.

"_Kumo_…?" Masaru wondered aloud. "I get her using her dad's Rain attacks, but Cloud…?"

"Thanks to her primary Flame attribute Yamamoto Haruhi was unable to learn her father's line of Shigure Souen Ryu, so she turned to another," Reborn explained. "Her tutor, Mochida, had learned the style directly from Yamamoto Tsuyoshi and added the attack you just saw to compliment his additional Flame attribute—Cloud."

"Rain, Storm _and_ Cloud?" Saki asked. "This Flame stuff is so oxymoronic… and confusing."

"Just watch," Reborn said, motioning back towards the field. The Cloud diversion had settled, leaving Haruhi and Shaka to stare one another down as the rain from above thinned the mud that had splattered on their bodies. Haruhi's armor was still lodged in place in the rock, apparently having been wriggled out of during the distraction.

"What was that?" Shaka insisted. His voice was cracking with rage. "Cloud? Are you sure you're even fit to be a Storm Guardian if you can't even use the Storm Flame in battle? What is wrong with you?"

Haruhi did not reply with an angry retort. She only smiled and held her sword in front of her, one-handed and with her left arm at her side. The entire gymnasium was silent save for the wind and rain whipping in from the exposed rooftop.

"_Chiyu Hare_," she muttered to herself. The entire sword, from hilt to point, glowed in a soft yellowish hue. The glow crept up her arm and slowly began to envelop her.

"That's it!" You're dead!" Shaka spat. He began to charge, short-sword ready to run his opponent through. He was nearly to Haruhi when the teenager snapped out of her almost trance-like state and drove the tip of the sword into the mud in front of her.

"_Douyou Hekireki_!" she shouted. Green waves flowed out of the sword and rippled across the mud. When the waves reached Shaka, pale-green sparks erupted from his body and he fell to the ground, limbs stiff. Haruhi ran up one of the small hills and jumped off so she was right above Shaka.

"_Kurooningu Kiri_!" Haruhi announced. As she hovered momentarily, indigo blobs began to mold and shape until three copies of Haruhi were there along with the original. All four girls' swords erupted into a barely-contained scarlet flame as they came hurtling down at the wide-eyed and immobile Shaka, spinning on the descent.

"_USUGIRI ARASHI_!" the four Haruhis yelled. When they connected together just above Shaka, the flames created a powerful explosion that blinded the onlookers and made them look away. The flash lasted a few seconds, though to the people in the bleachers it felt like minutes.

"The victor: Yamamoto Haruhi!" the Cervello announced. Everyone looked at the field and saw it was no longer raining as the original Haruhi was standing above Shaka. The man was not moving and looked as if he had been burned and slashed in several strokes simultaneously. After taking the half of the Storm Ring that was on a chain around Shaka's neck, Haruhi limped out of the arena and over to her friends who met her at the edge of the fighting area.

"Hi Yohi-kun," Haruhi smiled, her voice thin and hoarse.

"Haruhi-san… you didn't have to do that…" Kiyohiko said, almost on the verge of tears. He looked down and gasped. "Your arm! Did you break it?"

"Yeah… it kinda looks that way, doesn't it?" she chuckled, testing the floppiness of her left arm. "Well, at least I had fun doing it."

"That wasn't very fun to watch, Haruhi-san," Kiyohiko scolded. "Why did you do that?"

Haruhi simply chuckled and closed her eyes, collapsing on the spot. Masaru and Damiano both caught her and kept her from falling on the ground.

"Did Haruhi-nee die…?" Annje whimpered.

"No, she's just unconscious," Damiano said as he listened to Haruhi's breathing. "She'll be fine, as long as we get her to a doctor."

"Let me take care of that!" a voice cut in. The Namimori Regulars all looked towards the door to see a man standing there with a white lab coat and greying hair that was once some shade of brown. One second was all it took before Hans came running over and began kicking the newcomer in the shins.

"Don't you touch her, you pervert!" he shouted.

"Oh, come on," the man sighed, seemingly not even phased by the attacks. "Is that any way to greet your dear old Opa Shamal?"

"You're not my opa, but some creep who Dad knows!" Hans kept on kicking Shamal as he made his way down the staircase and over towards Haruhi.

"Where did you come from, Dr. Shamal?" Kiyohiko asked. "Don't you normally stay in Italy?"

"Yeah, but your dad sent me over to make sure you kids didn't do something stupid like let any of the girls get hurt. It looks like I'm too late."

"Trust me; it wasn't my idea," Kiyohiko muttered. He watched carefully as Shamal checked Haruhi's vital signs and made the preliminary diagnosis.

"She's got to come with me to the hospital," he said. "If we don't get her there before long, she could actually end up dying. She used way more energy than she should have for that last attack. Something of that level shouldn't even cross her mind as something to attempt."

"Then I'm going too," Rosario said. She had walked over from the Varia side and stood staring worriedly at the unconscious teen. "Even if you are on Zio Tsuna's orders, I don't trust you worth a damn."

"I don't know where all this hate is coming from," Shamal said, layering on a thick helping of sarcasm to his voice. "I show up, trying to help out, and what do I get? Insult after insult! Geez… you'd think it'd take more than three minutes for that to happen!"

"Just please help her out," Kiyohiko asked. Shamal agreed; Masaru and Damiano let Rosario take Haruhi and the three disappeared out the door.

"What was that about?" Saki asked.

"Dr. Shamal is kind of an extreme pervert," Masaru explained. "He's been at it since before our parents were born." Saki whistled, both impressed and worried.

"Rosario-nee will make sure everything's fine," Kiyohiko said. His face betrayed his words though, as he looked more worried than ever before. He stared at Shaka, still lying in the battlefield, as a stone dropped hard in his already-queasy stomach.

"The next match will be on Monday night, with the candidates for the Guardian of the Sun," the Cervello announced. After they made sure that both Fausto and Kiyohiko acknowledged them, the Cervello began ordering around suited men in their efforts to haul Shaka's unmoving form away.

This set of matches, Kiyohiko thought, was off to a horrible start.

* * *

A/N: Here's translations for the attacks, because I know not everyone is fluent in Japanese/Italian or has time to look it up. In fact, I am not fluent in either language either, but I've translated to the best of my ability.

Shajiku no Ame = Axel of Rain; Zanna di Squalo = Fang of the Shark; Sakamaku Ame = Rolling Rain; Shinotsuku Ame = Pelting Rain; Samidare = Early Summer Rain; Yarazu no Ame = Last Minute Rain; Jouhatsu Kumo = Concealing Cloud; Chiyu Hare = Healing Sun; Douyou Hekireki = Rolling Thunder; Kurooningu Kiri = Cloning Mist and Usugiri Arashi = Slicing Tempest.

Yes, I know it is the "Lightning" Flame, but whatever.

For the record, if You the Reader see some sort of translation/grammatical error in any of my foreign language usage that is glaring enough to bug you (because you, well, know the language first-hand), let me know how I can fix it. I understand in the fullest and will be happy to oblige.


	26. Contemplation and Codes

Notes: This chapter brought me at an interesting crossroads. It also reminded me, in a roundabout way, of how shipping is fun but horrifying at the same time, which then brought up the thought of the massive amounts of shipping is why many males in fandom (who aren't total pervs) probably either ship discreetly or pretend they're women so they can ship without being looked at funny. Shipping alienates, particularly when we need to get along.

Reviewer Shout-out: Princess Arcs di Cielo! Thank you! I wholly appreciate you leaving your thoughts. That's all I want, people: leave your thoughts. Please, thank you, thank you.

* * *

Chapter Twenty

_Contemplation and Codes_

It was silent in the kitchen at the Sasagawa-Kurokawa-Sawada house as everyone but Damiano and Haruhi sat around, thinking about what had just happened only half an hour beforehand. Having to watch Haruhi collapse into the arms of her friends was not sitting well with the Namimori Regulars and the heavy silence that punctuated the atmosphere proved it.

"I-is Ha-Ha-Haruhi-nee gonna die…?" Annje cried into Saki's side. The older girl held her and stroked her hair in an effort to calm her down despite the fact that she was fairly confused herself.

"Shhh… no one's dying. You heard that man… he was sent to make sure we were okay. Yama-chan's gonna be fine."

"Yeah… the Tenth would only send the best," Hans said thoughtfully as he sat cross-legged on the counter. "I don't like who the best is though."

"That's right… how do you know Dr. Shamal, you little brat?" Masaru asked.

"Oh, he sometimes came over to visit my Dad when he would be in town," Hans explained. "I think Mom had to fire more female staffers when he was around than when he wasn't. He wants me to call him Opa… but I don't believe he's dad's dad."

"He's not, but just an extremely annoying necessity," Masaru added, looking over at the still-confused Saki.

"So then this tournament is to decide who is going to take a place in Sawada-kun's family business?" she asked. "I always thought his dad was a civil servant in Italy."

"You can call the Mafia by any name you want, but it is nothing but civil," Kiyohiko mumbled. He had been fairly quiet since they left the gymnasium and it was the first full sentence he had uttered in that time.

"I'm back!" Damiano announced as he came into the kitchen. He shut the door behind him and put the convenience store bag on the table. "I thought these might help." He began to unpack the individual-sized containers of ice cream and other assorted items of junk food with little response from the others.

"You got food? I feel sick and you want me to eat?" Hans asked critically.

"Hey, when I was little, my mom said that sometimes we need to eat when we're sad. Not all the time of course, since that's not good either, but when things are really bad the act of eating can help the mood. Families are supposed to laugh at the dinner table, right?"

"Explains Hana-san's comfort-food kicks," Masaru said as he grabbed some ice cream and began to eat right out of the container. "Sometimes the girly way of doing things doesn't taste that bad."

"Reborn, how long do you think it'll be before we hear about how Haruhi-san is doing?" Kiyohiko asked. The infant hitman shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as he started to devour one of the ice creams.

"I can't tell. Haruhi pushed herself beyond what she should have, so Shamal has a real undertaking ahead of him. Relax and have some ice cream before it melts; your father wouldn't have sent him had he not thought he could handle it."

"Signorina Haruhi is one of the strongest people our age that I know though," Damiano said through a spoonful of ice cream. "How could that be beyond her normal limits?"

"It took a lot of strength, both mental and physical, to do what Haruhi did back there," Reborn explained. "To make the perfect storm, you need a precariously balanced amount of rain, cloud, sun, thunder and mist. She knew that and therefore adapted Shigure Souen Ryu to reflect this. She made much progress in order to do so, but it was just a bit shy of where she should have been to keep self-inflicted damage at a minimum."

"Okay, then what about those Flame things?" Saki asked. Annje was not in her arms anymore and slowly picking at some ice cream, leaving her to talk. "I know you've explained it before, but it doesn't make total sense to me. Yama-chan said that all strong fighters have one, but didn't she use more than one?"

"People aren't always born with just one," Kiyohiko said sadly.

"Correct," Reborn interjected. "Haruhi has access to most Flames of the Sky, as her godfather does. He is the current Guardian of the Storm and one of the fiercest men in the Mafia."

"That's my dad," Hans added. "I don't know why I got a different Ring than him though."

"Oh yeah, that's right… what ring did you get?" Masaru asked. Hans fished for a chain that rested under his shirt and pulled out the ring that was attached.

"Thunder—I got it before I even came to Japan. This guy named Basil that Dad works with gave it to me. Mom and Dad weren't too happy with that."

"Thunder…?" Kiyohiko asked. Now _he_ was the one who was confused. "Are you serious?"

"It's right here," Hans said. He hopped down from the countertop and walked over to Kiyohiko. Sure enough, the green stone and lightning bolt crest inlay was there as plain as day.

"So Masaru-nii is Sun, Haruhi-san is Storm, Hans-kun is Thunder… are you Mist Damiano-kun?"

"Nope. I'm the Rain," he replied, pulling half of the Rain Ring out of his pocket and putting it on his hand. "In a way I'm relieved, since this means I don't have to go against Sorella."

"Do you have a Ring, Saki-san?" Kiyohiko asked. Saki simply shook her head.

"No, I didn't get one and neither did Annje." The little Dutch girl began whimper into her ice cream.

"A… Annje thought it would've been c-cool to get a ring like the others did!" she sniffed. "N-Now that Haruhi-nee went up against that big, scary, loud man and all that loud, s-s-scary s-s-stuff… s-s-she…" Annje could not go on and burst into tears.

"Don't be such a baby—she knew what she was doing," Hans groaned. Annje just wailed and ran out of the kitchen into the living room.

"I don't blame her for crying, Hans-kun, and neither should you," Kiyohiko said. "This is awful, and crying is normal."

"Man… why are we all talking like Haruhi-chan died?" Masaru scoffed. "Just wait: she'll be at school on Monday, wrapped in bandages but still smiling like she always does!"

"…but we still don't know who the Guardians of the Mist or the Cloud are, even though we will probably need them to win this tournament," Saki said. "Isn't there someone we can ask?"

"That's the thing," Damiano shrugged. "We have nothing to lead us as to who they might be either. That's the problem with those Flame attributes—you can't exactly count on predictability with them."

A silence fell over the Namimori Regulars as they finished up their ice cream. When they went looking for Annje later, they found her fast asleep under the couch pillows, tears still running down her face. Damiano picked her up and carried her home while the rest of them dispersed, saddened but hopeful.

* * *

Despite Masaru's assurance throughout the rest of the weekend, Haruhi did not show up to school on Monday, nor had she even come home. Kiyohiko kept on trying to call both Shamal and Rosario, but neither were picking up their cell phones. It made the back corner of class of 1-C less-than-attentive when it came to the teacher's morning announcements.

"Class, I would like to start today with…" he said. Kiyohiko seemed to tune out the rest, keeping his eyes down and concentrated on his notebook where he had written the matchups for the Ring Battles. He had no idea who was going to fight in some of them, though he had a sinking feeling that it was not going to be pleasant. Contemplating soon turned into bored doodles as the teacher droned on and on.

"…and lastly, I would like to introduce you all to a new student," the teacher continued. "Those of you with trouble in English pay attention, because our exchange student might be able to help you out. Come on in, son!"

Much to Kiyohiko's horror, a familiar face walked into the room. He exchanged a nervous look with Masaru as the newcomer bowed politely to the class.

"Hi! My name is Jack Justice and I am from Brampton, Ontario, which is a city very close to Toronto in Canada. I just moved here this weekend with my step-mom, who is from Namimori, and my younger siblings. We would visit family here often, so we might've seen each other before this. I love baseball, technology and learning about different cultures. Please look after me and forgive any mistakes I may make." With another polite bow, he was done.

The class began whispering amongst themselves. They already had two classmates that grew up in Italy, a young exchange student from Germany and now an exchange student from Canada with barely an accent. It was suspicious, but they were surprisingly used to suspicious. No one was exactly sure what to think when their new classmate made his way to the back of the room and took the absent Yamamoto Haruhi's seat in the corner with the rest of the oddballs.

"We should be getting new desks for the room soon, so you'll have to make do sharing desk space for now," the teacher said. "Okay class! Time to turn to page 137 in our textbooks!"

"Jack-san…?" Kiyohiko whispered. He knew that the lesson was about to get started, so he tried his best to look attentive despite the fact he was looking backward. "What are you doing here?"

"I'll tell you at lunch. It's a long story," the newcomer whispered back.

The rest of the morning passed by slowly, making lunch feel like it was days away. It was only once the entire group was up on the roof did anyone feel like they could breathe.

"…and that's about it," Jack said, wrapping up his story. "So, long story short: Dad doesn't want us living alone while he's away for his job and thinks having my step-mom and siblings with their family would be best."

"What about your mom and her family?" Masaru asked. "I know my mom's extremely nuts, but that's just mine. Couldn't you stay with them in Canada?"

"We don't get along with her parents and I haven't really heard from my mom in years," Jack said. "It's not that she's overly-crazy or doesn't love me, but we just don't have much time to communicate on a level greater than Christmas and birthday cards. Besides, I love my step-mom too much to just leave her. She's too used to me helping when Dad's away… and don't get me started on Jiro and Naomi. They'd flip if they went anywhere without their big brother."

"Big brothers with crazy-busy moms, let's hear it," Masaru said, holding out his fist. Jack knocked his own fist with Masaru's and chuckled.

"So, what have you guys been up to since the baseball game?" Jack asked. "I bet a lot. You've had summer vacation and everything, eh?"

"Uh, yeah," Kiyohiko smiled. "Masaru-nii and I went to Hawai'i and Saki-san came in second place at a large martial arts tournament."

"That's cool!" Jack took a bite of his sandwich and looked at his new classmates—they did not seem very enthusiastic. Their smiled looked, dare he think it, forced.

"Okay guys, what's up? You don't seem very excited or happy."

"There's just a lot going on," Hans admitted.

"Yeah… Signorina Haruhi is sick right now, so we're just kind of sad thinking about her being stuck at home," Damiano lied.

"Oh, that was the girl who was a great batter, right?"

"Yes, and Annje, the little girl that was with us, she's been crying over it because we can't go see her. You know… contagious."

"I hope she gets better soon then," Jack said. "There isn't anyone I know that can hit the ball like that. She's amazing."

"Yeah," Kiyohiko chuckled. "She really is."

* * *

It was almost ten as Kiyohiko and Masaru left their house later that night. They met up with Hans and Saki at the corner and began the quiet walk over to the high school. Damiano and Annje were waiting for them outside the gate, the latter looking like she had been crying the entire weekend.

"How are you doing, Annje-chan?" Kiyohiko asked. The little girl just clung on to Damiano's side and sniffled loudly.

"I told her not to come, but she insisted," Damiano explained. "She's really scared."

"Scared of what…?" a voice asked. Everyone turned and saw Jack standing behind them, accompanied by two small children about the same age as Annje and Hans. The children had ice cream cones in-hand and stared inquisitively at the strangers.

"Oh, Jack-san, you scared us!" Kiyohiko gasped. "Are these your siblings?"

"Yeah. Jiro, Naomi, these are my friends. Say hi."

"I know you!" the little girl piped up, pointing at Annje. "You're the one we saw on the playground today crying! Are you a Grade Three and the level between us or are you just in another class?"

"Annje… uh…" Annje started. Before she could stammer further, Jack turned to his siblings and bent down to eye-level with them.

"Hey, do you think you can make it back to Aunt Kimiko's? I want to talk to my friends for a little bit."

"It's right over there," the little boy said, pointing down the road. "The next street, take a left, fourth house on the right."

"Alright, now that's the Justice Way," Jack chuckled, ruffling his brother's hair. The two children giggled and ran off, safely disappearing behind the appropriate wall. When he saw that his siblings were gone, Jack straightened and looked seriously at the Namimori Regulars.

"Something's wrong," he said. "Why are you all here this late at night?"

"Studying…?" Saki offered.

"With an elementary school kid and no books? I'm foreign, not dumb. You weren't yourselves all during school and now you're being standoffish. Does it have something to do with all the light coming from behind the gym?"

"Look, Jack-san, please, just go home. It's better you not get involved."

"I'm not trying to be a pest; I just want a straight answer," Jack said. "Do you mind if I join you guys?"

"Yeah, but I won't stop you," Kiyohiko admitted. "You're right to be concerned, but you don't need to worry yourself over it."

"Over what?"

"Just an extra-curricular that is definitely _not_ in the school pamphlet," Saki said. "Come on. You can keep me company so I won't be the only clueless one."

"Okay then…" Jack said. He let Saki drag him by the arm as the Namimori Regulars walked towards where the main building made a courtyard with the gymnasium and cafeteria. A boxing ring was set up, settled perfectly in the corner opposite the old, half-dead oak tree that was the favorite place of many a Namimori student when it came to outside studies.

"Oh, wow…" Masaru gasped. He looked at the ring in wonder. "This thing wasn't here during school! I wonder how long it took to set this thing up!"

"They only need a few hours," Jack said. "Back home, one of my friends' uncles worked putting this stuff up. Is there a fight going on later?"

"Something like that," a voice said. Haruhi appeared behind Kiyohiko's shoulder, scaring the life out of everyone there. Her left arm was in both a cast and a sling, but she looked fairly well if one ignored all the various bandages.

"Haruhi-san, you're alright!" Kiyohiko cried. He hugged gingerly, careful not to put too much pressure on her arm. Everyone took a turn until it was only Jack, Hans and Annje left. The children both rushed her at once, almost barreling her down.

"Haruhi-nee! Annje was so worried about you!"

"Don't do that again! You really upset the Eleventh with that! Think about the consequences next time!"

"Okay, okay… oh, hi Jack-kun! Are you over visiting again?"

"No, I live here now," Jack explained. He was about to go further when the lights in the boxing ring flicked on.

"Welcome," said the Cervello as they walked into the middle of the ring. "Tonight is the Sun Ring Battle. Sawada Kiyohiko, do you have your candidate ready?"

"Yes," Kiyohiko answered in resignation. Masaru hopped up into the ring and took off his shirt, revealing a set of new scars that Kiyohiko knew had been from training with Lussuria. The members of the Varia were nowhere in sight, although there was still plenty of time for them to arrive and not be late. Masaru took this opportunity to warm up; doing various punches, kicks and stretches while he waited. It was during this time that the Namimori Regulars caught Jack up to speed on the whole event, figuring that they could not hide the truth from him forever.

"Aren't there laws against things like this?" Jack asked. He wore an expression that showed that although he could wrap his head around the situation, he was still astonished that it was happening. "What you just told me about your dad's family business is something out of a comic book."

"Suspiciously convenient, I know," Kiyohiko frowned. He chuckled half-heartedly though, allowing a semblance of a smile to form. "At least I have some of the greatest friends to get me through this. They know I could pick anyone in the world to be my Guardians but they'd still be by my side."

"Is that a member of the Varia over there?" Jack asked, pointing to behind where Damiano was standing. Everyone looked to see a woman marching down the yard. She was dressed sharply and did not seem to be very happy.

"_Shit no_," Kiyohiko gasped. He ran in the direction of the woman, trying to get her to stop.

"Who is that?" Hans asked. "She wasn't any of the people that were there on Friday."

"That's because she's not part of the Varia," Haruhi said. Her Yamamoto smile was warped into a nervous grimace. "Masaru-kun! Heads up!"

"I'm extremely busy!"

"It's a Code Superior! I think you might want to pay attention…"

Masaru stopped mid-punch to look across the yard at the woman his cousin had flagged down. His jaw dropped. "No…"

"What's the big deal?" Damiano asked. Haruhi and Masaru exchanged glances before the latter elaborated for their confused friends.

"That lady right there… that's my mom."

* * *

A/N: It's the Return of Jack Justice! I finally had an excuse to bring him back! I really did have fun writing him the last time and actually now have something much bigger planned because of his appearance here. MUCH BIGGER.

Oh, and I do know that Jack said he was from Toronto earlier, but it's one of those instances where a larger city nearby is better for quick recognition. It's like Vancouver and Richmond, London and Colchester (kinda), New York City and Yonkers, Tokyo and Chiba… I could go on. I do a similar thing for where I live, so it made sense.


	27. Interlude VI

Notes: Annje is exactly what I would want in a female charge eight years of age. Also, this chapter is short; the next one should come soon-ish because of it.

Reviewer Shout-outs: Undyingfaith is a very lovely person, as she left plenty of reviews with creative/constructive input as she read through the entire story. We even had conversations back and forth, all of which were most satisfying. This one's for her.

* * *

Interlude VI

Annje here, ready for another Annje-Annje Interview! This is the interview Annje did one day when she was with Haruhi-nee at Saki-nee's tournament! Annje had to stay with Haruhi-nee that day, because Damiano-nii, who she went with, had gone away for the day with this guy who looked about his age and she couldn't be wandering around by herself. That was a rule made when Annje came to Japan: Annje is not allowed to be out of the house, and by herself, for longer than thirty minutes unless Damiano-nii says so. Haruhi-nee had only one day off from training, where she went with this guy and they played samurai, but she was nice enough to spend it with Annje! There were a lot of people at the tournament though, which made the interview hard.

-Haruhi-nee! Why is it so loud here? Annje doesn't like it!

-There's a lot of people here, Annje-chan. Hey, there's a stand with some food. Do you want some?

-Yes, please! Oh, hey, they've got sausages! Annje wants a sausage!

-Two sausages please. There you go Annje-chan. Let's go eat over here where we can see Saki-nee fight.

-Yay Saki-nee! Verbaast! She must've threw the other person halfway across the room! Can she do that?

-I don't really know. Hey Saki-nee!

-Hi there Annje-chan. Are you having fun?

-Yeah! Annje likes watching you fight, Saki-nee.

-Thank you. What's the recorder for?

-This? Oh, Annje was interviewing Haruhi-nee for the Annje-Annje Interview! It's her turn!

-That's nice. What were you gonna ask her?

-Uhh… Annje forgot because it was loud and Haruhi-nee bought her a sausage.

-Darn those sausages and their mind-wiping powers. You must've known she would ask a lot of questions, didn't you Yama-chan?

-This sausage has forgetting powers? Schrikaanjagend!

Annje became very afraid of the sausage after that. It was only halfway done, but she threw it as hard as she could in order to get away from the scary, scary Forgetful Sausage. Haruhi-nee and Saki-nee were not very happy with Annje-chan. Thankfully, Damiano-nii came over then, so Annje went and hid behind him.

-Woah, what's this about?

-Hide Annje, please! She doesn't want to eat the Forgetful Sausage!

-Uh… Signorina Haruhi?

-Saki-chan made a joke and she overreacted.

-How was I supposed know she'd react like that?

-What did she… oh, hello sir. What's wrong?

-Did someone over here throw this sausage? It hit my trainer in the back.

-That's your answer, Dokuro-kun.

-Annelisia Klasina Gertruda Maria, did you throw that sausage?

Annje knew it was business when Damiano-nii used her middle names, so she didn't try to run away. The man holding the Forgetful Sausage was really big and scary and had a loud voice, so Annje stayed behind Damiano-nii while apologizing. When he left, Damiano-nii got down on his knees and looked Annje in the eyes.

-You were lucky he was nice. Don't do that; you could get us in trouble. You don't want Signorina Saki to get kicked out, right?

-Nuh-uh. Annje is sorry, Saki-nee!

-That's alright Annje-chan. Now, what did you want to ask Yama-chan for the Annje-Annje Interview?

-Uh… uh… why is Hans-kun so mean to Annje? You should know, 'cause he stays at your house.

-Most boys don't know any better at your age.

-Damiano-nii, were you mean to girls when you were Annje's age?

-Damiano-kun's never been able to hurt a fly! The girls were always beating him up!

-Thanks Signorina Haruhi.

-It's okay, Damiano-nii. You're still coo—aaah! The Forgetful Sausage cart! Hide!

This was when Annje ran and hid, just to be safe. She tried to trans-morga-form the cart with a Mist tech-thing, but it ended up turning into a giant monster! It was so scary! Lots of people ran and shouted and Annje thinks Haruhi-nee and Damiano-nii took care of it. Annje doesn't know for sure though, 'cause she was hiding. She got into trouble later. It wasn't much fun, 'cause Annje had to stay in the hotel room the next day with nothing to do.

Well, that was the Annje-Annje Interview! Until next time!

* * *

A/N: Annje has one of the coolest names ever… even cooler than Jack's. He may have an Awesome McCoolname, but Annje just has a _cool _name.

Translations: Verbaast = amazing; Schrikaanjagend = scary;


End file.
